Thursday 16 / May / 2024
MUSCAT – Bank Muscat, the leading financial service provider in the Sultanate of Oman, is keen to enhance its Banking services for corporate and institutional customers. It aims to offer diverse banking solutions and facilities tailored to the specific requirements of this crucial sector. Presently, the Bank takes pride in its contributions to the growth of these institutions, fostering the emergence of new businesses that play a vital role in supporting and developing the national economy.
In this context, as a part of its periodic series of media visits, the Bank organized a media visit to showcase the latest advancements and updates within the Banking group, specifically aimed at acquainting institutions with these developments and new services. The gathering took place at the Bank's Head Office in Airport Heights and was attended by Ilham Murtadha Al Humaid, General Manager of Corporate Banking at Bank Muscat, along with several Bank executives, journalists, and media representatives from various media channels.
During the meet, a presentation was delivered encompassing various information pertaining to the services offered to government institutions and corporates. The focus was on highlighting the electronic services extended by the Bank to this sector. The questions and inquiries of media representatives were answered by the Bank's team.
This meet is a testament to the Bank's commitment to strengthen its collaboration with the local media, recognizing the significant role it plays as a key partner in the growth and development process and in acquainting the community with the Bank's events, programmes and products.
Bank Muscat officials emphasized, at the media gathering, the Bank's commitment to ongoing success and accomplishments in delivering business and Banking services to government institutions and companies, with a particular emphasis on electronic services. In the recent period, the Bank has introduced a range of new services, facilities, and features aimed at adding value to diverse institutions. These innovations facilitate seamless and secure Banking transactions through new electronic channels, harnessing modern technologies to enhance service delivery.
Partnership and Successful Journey
On this occasion, Ilham Murtadha Al Humaid, the General Manager of Corporate Banking at Bank Muscat, emphasized the importance and priority accorded to the institutional sector. "This commitment is aimed at providing a diverse range of Banking facilities and services that cater to the needs of these institutions, facilitating the development of their businesses. At the Bank, we view ourselves as partners in the success and progress of these institutions. Consequently, we strive to enhance our services and operations to align with the evolving needs of these entities. This involves active participation in events and meetings to better understand the requirements of the institutions, enabling us to offer services, products, and facilities that not only meet their needs but also contribute to their growth and development. Additionally, our efforts extend to expediting financial transactions efficiently and supporting these institutions in their crucial roles to realize the objectives outlined in Oman Vision 2040. I would like to extend gratitude and appreciation to all corporates within this sector for their trust in the comprehensive range of facilities and services provided by Bank Muscat.
Afaf Ali Moosa, Assistant General Manager, Large Corporate, Bank Muscat, elucidated the pivotal role played by internet-based electronic solutions in contemporary economic development. She highlighted the increasing adoption of these services by numerous companies and institutions to propel various facets of their operations, ranging from marketing and supply chain management to financial oversight. She said: "This strategic transition towards leveraging electronic services not only boosts efficiency but also results in cost reduction, heightened speed, scalability, and improved efficiency in completing transactions swiftly and effectively."
She emphasized: "Digital transformation is no longer a choice but an imperative for all institutions, particularly given the array of innovative Banking and technological advancements in the online realm. To align with these developments, Bank Muscat actively invests in technology, offering electronic Banking services to cater to institutional needs and deliver added value. As a dependable Banking partner in the Sultanate, the Bank is dedicated to supporting diverse institutions, whether governmental or private, and fostering a thriving business environment. This commitment involves providing a spectrum of innovative Banking services and facilities that leverage modern technologies, delivering electronic banking services via Bank’s digital channels. Bank Muscat underscores its determination to persist in this approach, staying attuned to evolving developments and continuously offering technology-based services and facilities to Bank’s esteemed customers."
From his side, Ibrahim Khamis Al Balushi, Senior Assistant General Manager, Small and Medium Enterprises Bank Muscat, highlighted the array of Banking services, facilities, and tailored solutions extended to customers across diverse institutions and companies. He said: "This encompassing supporting small and medium enterprises, which are crucial sectors with substantial contributions to the national economy. The Bank is committed to offering solutions that bolster entrepreneurs and business owners, underscoring Bank Muscat's position as a leading financial institution in the Sultanate, prioritizing this vital sector. The Bank consistently endeavors to evolve its services in line with market requirements and the needs of the institutions. We take pride at Bank Muscat in contributing to the growth of numerous companies, now established entities in the private sector. The commitment persists in ongoing efforts to develop the business sector, staying attuned to current and future developments."
Development of the Institutional and Corporate Sector
In recognition of Bank Muscat's pioneering role in fostering the growth and progress of the private sector, along with its commitment to supporting companies and institutions across diverse sectors, the Bank emerged as one of the early financial institutions in the Sultanate to establish a dedicated department for financing enterprises of varying scales. The Bank is keen to understand and address the specific needs of large, medium, and small enterprises, aiming to actively contribute to their development through the provision of financing and banking services.
In recent years, Bank Muscat has held the highest individual subscription capacity among local banks and has established robust connections with regional companies. The Bank provides an extensive range of corporate banking products and services, encompassing project financing and debt financing through both direct loans and participation in joint transactions. Additionally, it offers corporate loans and capital financing to facilitate project expansion. The Bank further extends support through tender bonds, performance bonds, prepaid bonds, financial bonds, and performance guarantee bonds. Furthermore, Bank Muscat facilitates the corporate sector with letters of credit for equipment and machinery procurement, standby letters of credit, and a diverse range of services and products tailored for various corporate needs.
Digital Banking Platforms
As the trusted banking partner in Oman, Bank Muscat is committed to supporting corporates to make a mark in digitalization to create a successful business environment.
As part of the bank’s digital transformation plan, the Bank offers ‘Integrated Transaction Banking ‘platform to government entities, corporates and SMEs which offers a wide range of online capabilities including payments, consolidated dashboard of bank accounts across all banks, Direct debit solution, Virtual accounts, Liquidity solutions and Trade services. The new digital platform comes from the bank’s belief in the importance of achieving the highest level of services provided to its customers in a manner that meets their needs and keeps pace with the market changes while providing the highest level of security.
Bank Muscat’s Transaction Banking solutions enable achievement of automation in the activities of the treasury/finance team through the use of cutting-edge technology and processes aligned with corporate’s needs. The Account Services solution provides enhanced visualization of the overall banking relationship across all banks which includes accounts with Bank Muscat as well as with other local/international banks. Direct Debit and Virtual Accounts are collection solutions, which facilitate automation in the reconciliation of receivables in addition to providing corporates with complete control and visibility of collections. ‘Sweeps’ is an advanced liquidity management solution for account balance management, which allows automation in funds movement between accounts as per pre-defined rules. ‘Trade Portal’ is the online solution which allows processing of trade finance requests efficiently and with complete transparency.
Further, Bank Muscat provides a complete range of products, services and technology driven digital offerings catering to government entities, corporates and SMEs in the area of Host-to-Host integration through Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) & API banking services, collections facility through Remote Deposit Capture (RDC) for cheques and Point of Sales (PoS) terminals, Payment Gateway etc.
Bank Muscat’s Online Corporate Banking platform also facilitate salary payments for employees through a secure payment channel under the Wages Protection System (WPS) as mandated by the Central Bank of Oman and the Ministry of Manpower.
Enhancing Electronic Services
Bank Muscat's cutting-edge B2B Connectivity solution serves as a hallmark of technological advancement, offering a Host-to-Host platform that facilitates direct integration between corporations and the bank's systems. The solution seamlessly integrates banking functionalities for salary and vendor payments within corporations' Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. Business to Business (B2B) Connectivity solution particularly caters to institutional clients, empowering them to automate payables and reconciliation extensively, thus mitigating potential risks associated with payment processes.
In alignment with its vision “To Serve You Better, Everyday”, Bank Muscat has recently launched Host-to-Host integration with the state-of-the-art Application Programming Interface (API) Banking services, which addresses the transactional requirements of large Government, institutional and corporate entities. Bank Muscat’s API Banking services enables institutions and large corporates to build an efficient and robust payment & reconciliation system that is integrated with their ERP and collection & reconciliation system that is integrated with their Web portal. The API banking services enable seamless initiation and authorization of payments, streamlined collections of receivables, real-time transaction monitoring, and automated reconciliation processes, boosting efficiency and accuracy. In the meanwhile, the secure and flexible API infrastructure eliminates manual data entry and redundant tasks, freeing up valuable resources for strategic initiatives.
Bank Muscat offers Direct Debit digital collection solution, which provides corporates with a convenient mechanism to manage their recurring payments from their customers. This solution provides improved working capital management and predictability in liquidity management with automation in collection of funds. The solution eliminates the need of paper-based payment instructions for recurring payments and manual tracking of payment deadlines. The solution provides flexibility of submitting debit mandate online and initiation of direct debit collection by the corporate themselves through its ‘Integrated Transaction Banking’ platform. The solution also offers Secured ‘Host to Host’ connectivity for automatic Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) integration. The Online Direct Debit solution facilitates the collection of utility bills, repayment of loans and mortgages, credit card bills, systematic investments, insurance premiums and more and is available to Corporates, Government Institutions and SME customers.
In line with its commitment to provide state-of-the-art digital services to enhance security features for online transactions, last year Bank Muscat launched ‘Soft token application’ for corporate and government customers. The Soft token application is a unified solution for both corporate and retail transaction authentication. Through the Soft token application, the customers can approve financial transactions by tapping on push notifications received on their registered mobile device and authenticate non-financial transactions through One-Time Passwords (OTPs).
Corporate Banking Branches
As part of its strategy to expand its branch network, the Bank continues its endeavours to provide high-quality banking services to customers across the Sultanate. With the latest addition in Duqm, the Bank now has 5 Corporate Banking branches across Oman including two branches in Muscat and one each in Sohar, Salalah and Duqum. The Corporate Branches are characterised by a spacious and comfortable design, and is manned by well qualified and experienced Omani cadres.
With Corporate Banking branches as the customer interface, the bank offers a wide range of essential services to its corporate customers, which include opening and managing of Current & Term Deposit Accounts, facilitating trade finance, treasury, Remittance & salary transfer services and cash management solutions. SME service desk available at these branches specifically cater to the requirements of the Small & Medium Corporates. Corporate Branches also act as the focal point in terms of communication exchange between customers and the bank.
Other Banking Services
To further strengthen its position in providing the best banking services and facilities to businesses, Bank Muscat offers salary transfer services through the Wages Protection System, where major companies and institutions can make salary transfers to their employees without the need to visit branches or Bank Muscat's Head Office. A number of businesses have already begun to take advantage of this benefit.
Bank Muscat also offers special cards for institutions and companies, which are admired by the Bank's corporate customers for the benefits and convenience provided in enabling various payment transactions.,. The Bank has allocated three types of cards, namely, Visa Corporate Standard Credit Card, Visa Signature Business Credit Card and Visa Purchasing Card. Each card has features that support the needs of corporate customers, as these cards aim to make financial transactions safer and secure as compared to the conventional cash transactions and cheque payments. Bank Muscat corporate cards are characterized by a range of features and services including Expense Management tool that meet the needs of companies and their employees.
