MUSCAT -- A new era in banking operations began in the Sultanate recently with the launch of the Automated Clearing House (ACH) system by the Central Bank of Oman (CBO). The ACH System is used for bulk processing of recurrent electronic credit and debit transfers initiated by its participants/financial institutions or by their customers.
Such recurrent fund transfers include direct credit of salary payments by employers, regular remittances by individuals, direct debits from utility companies to collect amounts due from their customers, direct debits from finance companies to collect instalments due on consumer loans, and so on. In comments, Hamoud bin Sangour al Zadjali, CBO Executive President, said: "As we achieved one major milestone of implementing the RTGS system in September 2005, we were working very hard since then to pursue another the ACH which commenced live operations successfully on September 6, 2006.
On this great occasion, I would like to thank all individuals and institutions who actively participated in the implementation of the project from the CBO, Ministry of Finance, State Government Reserve Fund, Muscat Securities Market, and the banks in achieving the ACH System." Al Zadjali added: "As shared with all, we outlined our vision for a National Payment Systems in April 2003 as indicated in the CBO report 'Payment Strategy'.
The CBO team had worked very hard over the last nine months with the participant banks and financial institutions on one side and the consortium comprising Imtac, HP and CMA on the other, to successfully implement the ACH System within budget and as per the project time frame. CBO has always taken the initiative in providing state-of-the-art e-banking solutions and will continue our investment in line with the vision of the government of the Sultanate of Oman under the wise leadership of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said." The Executive President added that the CBO has ambitious plans to introduce technology to all facets of National Payment Systems and will work with its chosen partners to automate other areas, like a Single National ATM/POS Switch, and the Cheque Imaging System (CIS).
By Staff Reporter
© Oman Daily Observer 2006
