Oman Arab Bank launches Pre-Paid Smart Card Scheme

Vienna/Austria (7.1.2008) – BGS Smartcard Systems, the turnkey supplier of the entire OAB e-payment solution, has supplied Oman Arab Bank with 100,000
pre-paid microprocessor cards and additionally developed an innovative pre-paid module for Oman Arab Bank and the Government of Oman.

OAB has enabled its entire ATM network to be smart-ready and to accept the DUET smart card.Consumers can now conveniently purchase the new pre-paid OAB smart cards at a value of 10 and 25 Omani Rials (equiv. to 20/50 EUR) at various retail outlets, thus saving them time and effort by not having to visit any bank branch. Even though the cards are designed to facilitate consumer payments at government outlets, Oman Arab Bank will also open its entire POS acceptance infrastructure to accept the pre-paid cards as well.Oman Arab Bank continues its pioneering role as the premier Application Service Provider of smart card based financial services to the entire Sultanate of Oman. The enhancement of the solution of the latest ATM, prepaid card, and overdraft services emphasizes Oman Arab Bank’s leading role within the entire Middle East banking community.

In early 2003 the Omani Government and OAB launched the 1st e-government smart card payment system in Oman based on BGS' DUET technology. As OAB and the government commence their fifth year of operations with the smart card solution, transaction volumes are reaching several hundred million Euros with hundreds of thousands of transactions being processed.
The e-Government solution is running very profitably in all government ministries including airports and seaports, Royal Oman Police, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Ministry of Man Power (labour fees and renewals/income taxes) and the Muscat Municipality (all permits). The largest telecom and private enterprise in Oman (PTT) is also offering OAB payment facilities in all of its 40 branches for telephone and utility bill payments. OAB’s smart card retail solutions incorporate 80% of the retail market in addition to offering its facilities on all British Petrol (BP) Oman outlets (recently converted to Oman Oil). On the same smart card OAB has extended its service offerings to include loans and savings facilities.