Muscat - In order to comply with the advancement of technology and emergence of new banking avenues such as electronic payments, Oman’s government is planning to bring a new banking law along with some other by-laws. 

The new banking law is expected to be implemented by the end of this year, according to H E Tahir bin Salim al Amri, executive president of the Central Bank of Oman (CBO).

Speaking as a keynote speaker at New Age Banking Summit Oman on Tuesday at Sheraton Oman Hotel, H E Amri said, “On electronic payments and settlements, we have come a long way. In 2018, we issued an electronic payment system law. Hopefully, we will issue some by-laws and circulars that will govern the sector allowing banks to operate on electronic systems.”

H E Amri said that the central bank’s focus is mainly on safe banking. “What we are trying to do is to move away, both on paper as well as in practice, from direct and inclusive supervision to more risk-based supervision and risk-based regulations. And for that we are working on a new banking law that will come up hopefully this year.”

H E Amri said the emphasis is mainly on value creation, support to the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and digital banking. The new banking law will take care of the regulatory requirements of all new developments, which have taken place recently and developments that are likely to happen in the next few years, he explained.

“Our aim is to have an agile banking law that will set the pace of economic development in this rapidly changing dynamic world,” H E Amri added.

Oman had formulated the current banking law in early 2000 and after a gap of nearly two decades, the county is planning to issue a new banking law to assimilate changes in technological landscape in the financial sector.

Later speaking to media-persons on the sidelines of New Age Banking Summit Oman, H E Amri said the Central Bank of Oman is taking steps to improve liquidity in the market following the representations made by some construction companies about the delay in payments due to tightening of liquidity in the system.

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