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.