• Harvard’s Innovation Lab and Barclay’s Rise Lab are ranked among the best in the world
• They will serve as inspiration for the upcoming OAB Innovation Lab

Muscat, 25 June 2019: Oman Arab Bank (OAB) is currently in the process of setting up a first-of-its-kind innovation lab in Oman. When completed the OAB Innovation Lab will provide access to one-to-one mentoring, specialised workshops, and industry experts for local students, OAB staff as well as local, regional, and international FinTech companies.

In order to ensure the implementation of best practices when setting up the lab, members of the OAB senior management team conducted visits to two of the best innovation labs in the world – Barclay’s Rise Lab in London, UK, and the Harvard Innovation Lab in Massachusetts, US. As part of the latter visit to Harvard, the OAB delegates also attended a two-day program called ‘Strategy and Innovation’.

The visit to Barclay’s Rise Lab was conducted by Leen Al Atassi, Head of Innovation at OAB and Stephen David Whitaker, Chief Information Officer, whilst the visit to the Harvard Innovation Lab was conducted by Rashad Al Musafir, the Chief Executive Officer, Asma Al Zadjali, Head of the Banking Operations Group, and Leen Al Atassi, the Head of Innovation.

Commenting on the Innovation Lab, Rashad Al Musafir said, “At OAB we understand that a drive to innovate is key to our success as a service provider. As society and expectations change, it is our role to pre-empt these changes and the demands that follow. Our Innovation Lab will help us drive this process and deliver a superior customer experience, now and in the future.

“The importance of these programmes lies not only in the innovation journey, however. By taking key learnings from these industry-leaders, we hope to create a space where we can also inspire local talent; talent with innovative ideas that will re-define our customers’ experience.”

Earlier this year, OAB held the first edition of its Innovation Hub event, a 24-hr hackathon where over 300 participants including students, OAB employees and local and global FinTech companies, competed to create innovative prototypes in a sandbox environment around current industry themes.

“Creating a high-performing and innovative culture starts with the right people and the right environment. Harvard and Barclay’s labs are two of the world’s leading innovation labs; we endeavour to draw inspiration from these leading business models so that we can create unique value to our customers, employees and the wider community. OAB’s Innovation Lab will include a tailor-made programme that is specifically geared to accelerate innovation through collaboration.” added Leen Al Atassi.

Following the OAB Innovation Hub event, ten students and an Omani Fintech company were selected to join OAB’s innovation programme, which includes a six-month internship and one-to-one mentoring for students. The teams are currently working closely with internal subject-matter experts to develop their solutions and deliver them to the market at the end of the programme.

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 a complete range of financial products and services for personal banking, corporate and investment clients.

Muscat, May 12, 2019: Continuing with its ongoing transformation plan for its branches across the Sultanate, Oman Arab Bank (OAB) has announced the opening of its newly revamped flagship branch in Maabila. The new customer-focused branch is located at Maabila Commercial district and will deliver enhanced banking facilities and the highest levels of convenience to the Bank’s customers in Maabila. The branch opening took place at the beginning of May 2019, under the patronage of H.E. Sheikh Ibrahim bin Yahya Al Rawahi, Wali of Seeb and overseen by Rashad Al Musafir, CEO of OAB, together with other senior members of the Bank’s management and staff.

Commenting on the launch of the new branch, Rashad Al Sheikh Deputy Head of Group Retail said, “Maabila is amongst the fastest growing residential areas in the capital and where a significant portion of our customer base is located. With this newly transformed branch, we will be able to offer them a modern and relaxing banking environment together with far more personalised levels of service. This is primarily thanks to the new branch’s spacious layout, stunning hues and stylish modern design that is distinctly OAB.”

As with the previously revamped branches, the new Maabila Branch features OAB’s enhanced brand identity with a refreshed look and feel. Aesthetically, its design inspiration has been taken from the ‘Omani Skyline’, wherein the white symbolises Omani architecture, browns denote the sand deserts, grey referencing the mountains, and the blue glass overhangs representing the sky.

The sleek, modern, and streamlined look is augmented by a number of features and systems. These include a new meet and greet facility with a streamlined queuing system, private advisory spaces with moving monitors for more personal interaction, together with digital signature pads and ID card readers within the advisory station design. The main branch area has two tellers and six customer care advisories with a seating capacity for 35 customers.

As with each of the other flagship branches launched so far, this new branch also features a dedicated ‘Elite’ section with its own Majlis with a total seating capacity for 15 customers. These features will provide the bank’s VIP customers with an exclusive, private, and memorable banking experience befitting the Bank’s Elite Banking Customers.

“This event marked the launch of the tenth transformed branch that we have opened so far. Furthermore, as one of our flagship branches, the new Maabila branch combines some of our very latest technological advancements and branch design philosophies; elevating our customer service experience in the area to entirely new heights,” added Al Sheikh.

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.

As part of its continued efforts to promote sustainable economic development

Muscat. April 30, 2019: In line with its constant endeavour to support any initiative that encourages the growth and sustainability of the Sultanate’s economy, Oman Arab Bank (OAB) has sponsored the Al Roya Economic Award 2019. The awards ceremony, now in its 8^th edition, was held last Thursday.

Commenting on the sponsorship, Hilal al Siyabi, Head of Corporate Communication at OAB said, “Over the past eight years, Al Roya Economic Award has been one of the most prominent initiatives aimed at encouraging entrepreneurs to boost their performance and in turn having a positive effect on the economy. As one of the first banks to be established in Oman, we always look for opportunities to support initiatives such as these whose objectives are in line with those of the Banks; objectives that are centred around supporting the social and economic development in the Sultanate.”

This year’s awards were spread across ten categories, including the National Achievement Cup, which was presented to the One Million Date Palm Project, a project supervised by the Diwan of Royal Court. The Portal ‘Abshir’, from the Public Authority for Consumer Protection, has awarded the Best Government Project Award. The Best Private Sector Project for Large Companies went to the Renaissance Village Duqm. The Best SME Award was presented to three companies – the National Natural Honey co. L.L.C, Engineer Commercial company, and AlNimr International Exhibition Organisers. The Best Foreign Investment Award was presented to Sepacic Oman. The late Mohsin Haider Darwish was presented with the Constant Donation Award. The Best Value-Added Project Award was presented to Petroleum Development Oman and the Best Economic Figure award went to Mahmood Mohamed Ali Al Jarwani. The best Company in the Insurance Sector award was given to Muscat Insurance Company S.A.O.G. Finally, the Best Student Company Award was divided between three companies – Future Support Company, Oman Recycling Company and Watad Company.

Al Siyabi added, “In line with government guidelines and the objectives of the National Program for Enhancing Economic Diversification (Tanfeedh), there is much reliance on the private sector to achieve the results desired. The Al Roya Economic Award acts as a platform that monitors the performance of companies in the private sector and subsequently rewards them for their achievements. OAB also aims to support the efforts of such companies and aims to help them enhance their contribution to the GDP by providing the best and most advanced banking services in the country that are developed to the highest international standards.”

This year’s Al Roya Economic Award is the result of a partnership between Al Roya Newspaper and Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry. It aims to provide support to all components of the private sector. In its current edition, the award ceremony highlighted India as its country of focus.

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 a complete range of financial products and services for personal banking, corporate and investment clients.

Muscat, April 25, 2019: Oman Arab Bank (OAB), has announced the names of the 120 winners for its March monthly Hasaad Savings Scheme draw, comprising of monthly branch draws, Children’s and Youth Account draws, and the monthly Elite Draws. This month also included the first Quarterly ‘Big Prize’ draw, which saw one of the banks customers win OMR 25,000.

Commenting on the Quarterly ‘Big Prize’ draw, Fahd Amjad, the General Manager of Retail Banking at OAB said, “This draw marks the first of our four quarterly draws with the special ‘Big Prize’ draw of OMR 25,000 and is open to every Hasaad account holder from across our branch network. It is held every quarter, with the next to be held as part of the June Hasaad Draw.”

The Hasaad Savings Scheme offers the Bank’s clients across all regions and branches a chance to win one of several valuable prizes on a monthly basis. These prizes come as part of the Bank’s monthly draws which will see 87 lucky winners, a minimum of one winner in each branch, of OMR 500 monthly and OMR 1,000 each every quarter; ten winners of OMR 100 each for Children’s account holders aged 18 and below; 20 winners of OMR 100 each for Youth account holders aged between 18 and 25; and two winners of OMR 10,000 each as part of the monthly Elite Draw. The latter Elite draw, however, will see its monthly draw replaced by a Grand Prize draw of OMR 100,000 for one lucky Elite customer in December. In addition to these monthly draws, the Bank will also be conducting a special ‘Big Prize’ draw of OMR 25,000 for one winner across its branch network at the end of every quarter.

Fahd Amjad added, “On behalf of the management, I would like to congratulate all the winners of our March draw, especially, the winner of our first ‘Big Prize’ draw of 2019. There are still over 1,000 prizes to be won this year and I encourage all our customers to continue saving to maximise their chances of winning.”

OAB customers can easily open a ‘Hasaad’ account with a minimum balance of OMR 100, in order to be eligible for most of the prize draws.

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 a complete range of financial products and services for personal banking, corporate and investment clients.

World Renowned Futurist Brett King Conducts Seminar at the Event

Muscat, April 10, 2018: Oman Arab Bank (OAB), in line with its objective of creating value for the community and the banking sector as a whole, recently hosted its first-ever OAB Connect Forum. The event was designed to bring international thought leaders and futurists to Oman, allowing them to share their knowledge and expertise with the local business leaders and decision makers. For this, its inaugural event, which was held under the auspices of HH Sayyid Shabib bin Tariq Al Said, and presided over by Rashad al Musafir, CEO of the Bank, OAB invited renowned Australian banking entrepreneur, Brett King, as the guest speaker for the evening.

The event also saw the attendance of several Delegates, VIP customers, and Business Leaders, who were given a detailed insight into the changing dynamics of digitalisation and customer centricity. The event was also a perfect platform for facilitating networking opportunities.

Commenting the importance of the event, Rashad Al Musafir, CEO of OAB said, “We, at Oman Arab Bank, see it as a responsibility to not only enhance our business and add value to the banking sector, but as corporate citizens, to contribute to Oman as a whole. With this in mind, we are proud to launch OAB Connect. An event that aims to bring international thought leaders and futurists to Oman to create value for our community as a whole.”

Over the course of the event, Brett King touched primarily on world’s continuing trend towards increased digitalization and customer centric approach in every aspect of business, covering everything from communication channels, product development, leveraging technology and more. Following his talk, an open Q&A session was also conducted, wherein he addressed any and all queries from the audience.

“Brett King has established himself as one of the most influential people in the world of banking, with his futuristic take on financial services attaining immense global acclaim. His presence and long-term vision will be fruitful to help develop the services provided by the Bank, in line with our strategy to create innovative solutions for all our customers,” said Rashad.

Brett King will also be one of the keynote speakers at the fourth edition of ‘Duqm — Society & Economy’ taking place today at Oman Convention & Exhibition Centre, Muscat. The event will bring together individuals and organisations who seek to contribute innovations, ideas and products that will help transform urban cities into smart cities.

“On behalf of OAB, we are extremely proud to be able to host such an esteemed personality to enlighten us on various upcoming developments and techniques. We would like to wish him the very best of luck in all future endeavours and look forward to inviting other globally renowned speakers and exploring further potential learning opportunities in future iterations of OAB Connect,” concluded Rashad.

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.