Muscat, December 23, 2018: As part of its constant endeavour to support the growth and skills development of its staff, Oman Arab Bank (OAB) recently saw three members of its senior management attend a three-day specialised management course in Dubai. The training program titled ‘Leading People in Organisations’, organised by the Wharton International Business School of the University of Pennsylvania and attended by Khalid Al Barwani, Head of Large Corporate at Corporate Institutional Banking, Ahmed Al Kharusi, Head of Branches Support Department at Retail Banking Group, and Mahfoudh Al Rawahi, Head of Central Operations.

Commenting on the course and the importance of training at OAB, Adil Al Rahbi, Head of the Human Resources Division said, “At OAB we strongly believe that the most effective method for professional growth is to recognise ones existing strengths and build on them new skills and talents garnered through specialised training programmes. This is especially true for staff in managerial positions in today’s fast-paced, globally connected business environment. This is exactly why we chose this particular programme as it was designed specifically to achieve this objective.”

Taught by two of Wharton Executive Education’s most esteemed faculty, ‘Leading People in Organisations’ is a program that combines different educational approaches to provide an in-depth understanding of the importance of talent development to organisational success. The program was focused on five major areas of interest understanding each person’s individual leadership style, managing conflict, performance management, motivation and retention, talent management, and managing in social networks. The program ensured ample time with faculty allowing the participants to acquire and fine-tune new tools and approaches, and become part of a learning community of highly experienced executives that can continue throughout their career.

“Right from our inception, we have always worked towards enriching the learning experience of our employees by constantly developing their proficiency and key skills within the industry, regardless of their position within the organisation. This programme is just one of several that that we have members of our staff attend throughout the year and run alongside several other training programmes and initiatives we develop in house. Each of these are ultimately aimed at developing the future leaders of the Banking sector,” added Adil. “On behalf of the Bank I would like to congratulate Khalid, Ahmed, and Mahfoudh on the successful completion of the programme. I am confident the skills and knowledge they gained from the programme will enable each of them to become more effective leaders; in turn improving the efficiency and productivity of each of their respective departments.”

Organised by Wharton International Business School, ‘Leading People in Organisations’ is designed to identifying participants’ current leadership strengths and enhance them with cutting-edge tools and approaches, provide them with a unique opportunity to take their leadership to the next level.

Oman Arab Bank is proud to have achieved the highest Omanisation percentage within the banking sector, nearing 96%. It is also one of the first banks to be established in Oman with a rich and proud history. Today, the bank operates a nationwide network of 65 branches and representative offices and 150 ATMs spread across the Sultanate. OAB also provides a complete range of financial products and services for personal banking, corporate, and investment clients.

Muscat, 11 December 2018: As part of its commitment to the community, Oman Arab Bank (OAB) recently sponsored the closing ceremony of the competition ‘The Best Electronic tool for Mathematical education’ across schools of the Al Buraimi Governate. The event was organised by the Directorate General of Education in Al Buraimi. The ceremony was held under the auspices of Ahmed bin Amer al Kharousi, Assistant General Manager of Retail Banking and Head of Regional Management and Branch Support Department at OAB, and saw the attendance of Ali bin Abdullah Al Nuaimi, Assistant Director General, and Ali bin Faris Al Azzani, Assistant Director General of the Directorate General of Education in Al Buraimi, together with a number of administrative experts, educators, line managers, principals, and PE teachers.

Commenting on the Bank’s sponsorship of the event, Hilal Omar al Siyabi, Head of the Corporate Social Responsibility Department at OAB noted, “OAB believes in innovation as the key approach to development. Hence, we sponsored this competition; one that revolves around developing electronic tools that best serves Mathematics education. This event was organised by the Directorate General of Education in Al Buraimi, as it serves the innovative approach they take towards helping teachers in their jobs. We are proud of the innovative ideas presented by the participating schools, which will reflect positively on students in the schools of the Governate.”

Abdulaziz al Balushi, a Mathematics teacher at Al Afi Primary School, commented on the competition saying, “The aim of this competition is to provide Mathematics teachers with an opportunity to share their creative and innovative ideas with regards to electronic teaching aids that could serve teaching jobs, which in turn would also break the routine of the usual curriculum; introducing new learning resources and experiences to attract students.”

The ceremony included students from various schools of the Governorate putting up some shows and the chief guest handing over the prizes to the winning schools in each of the different categories of the competition.

Oman Arab Bank is one of the first banks to be established in Oman with a rich and proud history. Today, the bank operates a nationwide network of 65 branches and representative offices and 150 ATMs spread across the Sultanate. OAB also provides a complete range of financial products and services for Retail and corporate banking clients.

Muscat, December 31, 2018: Oman Arab Bank (OAB) was recently recognised as one of the best ‘Straight Through Processing’ (STP) banks in Oman by Citibank, a globally renowned financial firm.

Commenting on the award, Mahfoudh Sultan Al Rawahi, the Head of Branches Central Operations at OAB said, “We are honoured to receive this award from Citibank. Industry recognitions such as this not only underscores our efforts to ensure accuracy of electronic payments, but also incentivises us to step-up our operations and processes by always adopting the best international practices.”

The award was presented to the Bank at its headquarters in Al Ghubra by Mohammed Ahmed Al Hammadi, the vice president of correspondence banking group at Citibank. Mahfoudh Sultan Al Rawahi received the award on behalf of OAB and was accompanied by members of staff from the Bank’s Central Operations department.

The award was presented to OAB in appreciation of the quality and accuracy payments sent by OAB, wherein the Bank maintained an outstanding of 95% modification-free rate for bank remittances in USD.

“Our success as a Bank, both in terms of remittances as well as our other retail and commercial products and services, can be attributed to our continued emphasis on implementing the best global standards in managing our processes, people, and service delivery,” added Mahfoudh.

Oman Arab Bank is one of the first banks to be established in Oman, with a rich and proud history. Today, the bank operates a nationwide network of 65 branches and representative offices across and 150 ATMs spread across the Sultanate. OAB provides the complete range of financial products and services for personal banking, corporate and investment clients.

Muscat, January 07, 2018: Oman Arab Bank (OAB) kicks off 2019 with the launch of a host of new customer centric innovations as part of its ongoing digital transformation journey. Headlining the press conference, which was held on January 06 at the Bank’s headquarters in Ghubra, were OAB’s Next Gen ATM capabilities including ‘Tap & Go’ payments, and enabling of Instant Rewards as well as Discounts at Points of Sale (POS) machines across OAB’s network of select merchant partners.

The press launch was presided over by the Bank’s CEO, Rashad Al Musafir, and accompanied by Fahd bin Amjad, the Head of the Retail Banking Group, and Rashad Al Shaikh, DGM – Retail Banking. Also in attendance were members of the media as well as members of the senior management and staff from OAB.

Commenting on the new launches, Rashad Al Musafir said, “Stepping into 2019, OAB is taking a more fervent approach towards its digitalisation process starting with the launch of these innovative new payment solutions and enhancing customer experience. This launch is in line with our objective of offering our customers the most advanced and hi-tech products and services; ones that will serve as benchmarks for the industry to follow in the country. The launch of these innovative new solutions represents a significant development for Oman Arab Bank and bring with it true quality of life improvements to our customer’s shopping experiences across the country.”

Headlining the press launch was the Bank’s new NFC (Near Field Communications) payment capability across its entire ATM network. This innovative technology, more commonly known as ‘Tap & Go’ or ‘Contactless Payment’, allows the customers to carry out ATM transactions by simply tapping their NFC enabled cards on the ATM. At ATMs this means customers can carry out cash withdrawals much faster than before without ever needing to insert their cards into the machines. This technology not only saves the physical card from wear and tear, but is also fully secure, requiring a customer’s PIN entry. Additionally; customers will also be able to make payment to merchants by simply tapping their NFC enabled cards on the POS machine, without even needing to enter their PIN code. The Bank is expecting to have the NFC feature enabled across most of OAB’s POS merchants by mid-2019.

“Our NFC solution utilise the very latest in security technologies to ensure that our customers’ data remains secure. During any transaction no personal information is transmitted except for only basic account information,” said Rashad Al Shaikh. “In addition, we have very advanced fraud detection systems in place to spot any unauthorised activity, ensuring that our customers can carry out all transactions with total peace-of-mind, knowing full well that their information is safe.”

In order to make use of these services, customers will require one of OAB’s newer NFC enabled cards. The Bank was the first in Oman to issue contactless cards and had already begun the roll out of these new cards early last year.

In addition to its NFC solutions, OAB also announced that it has partnered up several merchants and outlets in order to launch its new Instant Rewards Point Redemption feature on OAB Point of Sales machines. OAB Rewards is a comprehensive loyalty program that offers customers the opportunity to receive rewards points for purchases made on their OAB credit cards. The accumulated points can later be redeemed with airlines, hotels, car rental services and more in countries around the world. Alternatively, customers can instead opt to use the points as a cash-back option.

Using this newly introduced Instant Rewards Point Redemption feature, any OAB customer making purchases from Sharaf DG, Kargeen Café, Gloria Jeans and several other participating merchants can choose to pay, completely or partially, using their accumulated OAB Reward Points. The entire process is simple and fast and will be carried out seamlessly at the time of payment.

“We are glad to have partnered with prominent retail brand franchises to launch this innovative new service,” said Rashad Al Shaikh. “Going ahead, we are looking to partner up with several more brands, stores, and service outlets across the country to make this new feature more widely available for our customers.”

Another new soon to launch feature introduced at the event was the automated redemption of OAB Card Promotions. As part of its Card Promotions program, OAB has partnered up with several brands, companies, and service providers across the country to provide OAB cardholders with exclusive discounts and value added deals. With the new automated system in place, OAB customers will automatically receive these discounts directly from the POS machine without having to ask for them receiving immediate saving by using OAB Cards.

“This, alongside all of the other new systems we have launched today, reinforces our position as one of the most innovative, technology savvy, and customer centric banks in the country. However, we have no intention of stopping here. We also continue to explore new opportunities to further leverage these platforms to provide even greater convenience for customers going forward,” concluded Rashad Al- Musafir.

Oman Arab Bank is one of the first banks to be established in Oman, with a rich and proud history. Today, the bank operates a nationwide network of 65 branches and representative offices, and 152 ATMs spread across the Sultanate. OAB provides the complete range of financial products and services for personal banking, corporate and investment clients.