AbdulRazak Ali Issa, Chief Executive of BankMuscat, said: “The Partners in Progress awards were conceived as a tribute to our merchant partners and customers. The Bank has grown from strength to strength with the support from all partners in the industry, customers and the goodwill of people. The success of e-payment gateway has encouraged us to launch more innovative services and payment solutions and we will soon implement the GPRS (mobile) PoS solution, unattended kiosks and batch uploader, a utility, which will help utility providers to process payments in bulk from multiple users. We take this opportunity to thank you all as well as the government of Oman, the Royal Oman Police (ROP) and the Information Technology Authority (ITA) whose support to our initiatives has changed the landscape of cards payment industry in Oman.”

The 2009 Partners in Progress award winners are Royal Oman Police (government), Gulf Air (airlines), Suhail Bahwan Automobiles (automobiles), Budget Car Rental (car rental), Gulf Imports Est. (clothing), The Baby Shop (department store), Jumbo Electronics (electronics), Fahmy Furniture (furniture), Muscat Private Hospital (healthcare and hospitals), Shangri-La’s Barr Al Jissah Resort and Spa (hotels and resorts), LuLu Hypermarket (hypermarkets), Axa Insurance (insurance), Damas Jewellery (jewellery and watches), Amouage (perfumes), Pizza Hut (restaurant), Al Fair (supermarkets), Sun & Sand Sports (sports equipment), Nawras (telecommunication) and Bahwan Travel Agencies (travel and tourism).

BankMuscat commenced card acquiring operations in 2002, and since then has crossed many milestones to become the largest acquirer and issuer of cards in Oman. The Bank has deployed over 4500 Point of Sales (PoS) terminals in various regions across the country to support e-payments and continues to expand rapidly.

In step with the Sultanate’s ambitious e-governance initiative, BankMuscat has been at the forefront, facilitating electronic card payments for services rendered by various government departments, including the Royal Oman Police (ROP). Notable among initiatives launched in association with the ITA and the ROP is the e-Purse utilising the national ID and resident cards as electronic wallet.

BankMuscat offers a variety of card products, which cater to the needs of virtually every customer segment in the market. The bouquet of card products includes Infinite, Platinum, Gold, Classic and Corporate credit cards in addition to Visa Electron debit cards. The Bank also issues different variants of pre-paid cards such as the ePayment and MyMoney. The Bank recently introduced the eCash card for corporate customers for payment of large amount transactions at government institutions. The eCash is in its pilot phase and is scheduled for launch during the course of the year.

During 2009, BankMuscat recorded a 35 per cent increase in the number of card transactions, which reflected an increase of 21 per cent in card sales volumes. These figures indicate clearly that the concept of e-payment is becoming more and more popular and paying by cards is becoming the preferred mode of payment for consumers.

The selection of award winners is based on the contribution of respective business categories to business volumes. The addition of 4 new categories this year was based on the increasing volume of card sales at their outlets. The BankMuscat PoS network covers card payment transactions of customers of all banks. The increased reach of this channel not only improves revenue for the Bank but also promotes the concept of moving from a cash-based economy to e-commerce and a cashless society.

BankMuscat has leveraged e-payment technology to enrich the lives of people in Oman. The objective is to serve as a vital link, integrating government departments and merchant network to provide better and more efficient electronic services and building a secure foundation for e-Commerce transactions.