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Oman Arab Bank celebrate a decade of payments transformation with BPC

Thursday, July 02, 2026 — 17:41:07 (UTC)

From local cards to tokenization. Oman Arab Bank celebrate a decade of payments transformation with BPC

Muscat, Oman - 2 July 2026 - Oman Arab Bank (OAB) and BPC, a global leader in payment solutions, are marking 10 years of partnership, celebrating a decade of card and payments modernisation that has helped reshape the bank’s issuing and acquiring business in Oman. Over that period, OAB has expanded from local card services into a broader modern card proposition, introduced contactless and enabled instant card issuance, and recently went live with Visa tokenization that positions the bank to introduce innovative and secure digital-first customer payment experiences.

Today, OAB is able to connect seamlessly to local and international schemes, support settlement and reconciliation, and launch innovative debit card propositions to market faster. The platform has strengthened and secured payment acceptance across the bank’s acquiring business, giving OAB more scalability for expansion.

For customers in Oman, the impact is visible in everyday banking. With Visa tokenization now in place, OAB cardholders benefit from more secure digital payment experiences, including safer card use in digital wallets and online environments where sensitive card details are protected through tokenized credentials. Customers can also access internationally enabled cards, use contactless payment options, and issue, renew or replace cards more quickly through self-service channels. The bank has further broadened its premium card offering for affluent segments while making modern payment tools more accessible to retail users, improving convenience, flexibility and payment choice across the customer base.

Tariq AlZadjali – CTO, Oman Arab Bank, said: “Our partnership with BPC has played an important role in the evolution of our cards and payments business over the decade. What started as a need to support international card issuing has become a broader transformation that has strengthened how we serve customers across Oman. At OAB, innovation is always centred around making banking faster, smarter and more accessible. The introduction of tokenization and instant card issuance is another step in redefining convenience for customers, while reinforcing our vision of accessible banking.”

Across the partnership, OAB expanded its acquiring capabilities to support Visa, Mastercard and American Express international schemes. At the same time, the bank modernised card issuance and personalisation introducing contactless cards and VTS integration, and secured processing across its ATM and POS networks. Modernisation allowed the bank to offer instant issuance via its ATMs, allowing customers to issue, renew or replace cards and update PINs through self-service channels. The service covers multiple card types, including Classic, Advantage, Platinum, Elite, as well as the Maal card, Oman’s new local card scheme sponsored by the Central Bank of Oman. To comply with all international and local scheme mandates, OAB upgraded its ACS environment.

Through a decade of innovation, OAB focused on customer-centric features for its ATM and ITMs network, which now support a wide range of everyday services, including local and international fund transfers, utility bill payments, donations, cheque book requests, contact details updates, PIN management, daily spending limit changes, card payments and access to account statements.

Among the bank’s most visible recent milestones has been the introduction of Visa tokenization, which provides OAB with a stronger foundation for more secure digital payments, smoother wallet-based payment experiences and readiness for the next generation of innovations. Building on this progress, the bank is also advancing on Visa Click to Pay requirements linked to tokenization. While improving customer convenience, OAB is well set to expand further into e-commerce, digital-first checkout journeys and online payment experiences that shape how customers pay and shop in the region.

Usama El Sayed, Managing Director Middle East and Africa, BPC, said: “We are proud to celebrate the achievements with Oman Arab Bank and support the bank on its payments transformation journey. With SmartVista, OAB has gained a scalable and future-ready platform that continues to help the bank deliver secure, innovative and convenient payment experiences to customers across Oman.” Looking ahead, the partnership continues to evolve. OAB is currently working with BPC on expanding security into digital banking, core banking, and corporate systems. This will allow the bank to unify fraud monitoring on one platform instead of relying on multiple distributed systems.

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About OAB

Oman Arab Bank was established in 1984, following the acquisition of all Arab Bank branches in the Sultanate. In 1992, operations were expanded with the acquisition of all retail branches of Omani European Bank, with which OAB merged in 1994. As of the 6th of July, 2020, Oman Arab Bank became a publicly listed company, with its shares listed in Muscat Stock Exchange (MSX). This marked the beginning of a new phase of our success story.

OAB commit to provide their customers with a comprehensive suite of innovative retail banking, corporate and project finance, and trade finance solutions. Aiming to pave the way for the future of banking in Oman. OAB focus has been on enhancing the customers’ experience across all customer touch-points and our state-of-the-art Omni channel banking experience.

Today, Oman Arab Bank Group operated a nationwide network of 51 branches and 141 ATMs & CDMs in high footfall locations across the Sultanate of Oman (as of December 2023 – including OAB subsidiaries).

About BPC

BPC is a proven industry leader that is shaping the world of transactions with quick, safe and easy payment processing. With a focus on exceptional technology development and customer service, BPC helps financial institutions and businesses to deliver innovative and best-in-class proven solutions that fit with today’s consumer lifestyle when banking, shopping, or moving in both urban and rural areas. With more than 500 customers across 140 countries, BPC collaborates with all ecosystem players to deliver services for the digital world. Its core product SmartVista suite comprises cutting-edge banking, commerce, and mobility platforms that enable innovative solutions for digital banking, ATM and switching, payments processing, card, and fraud management, financial inclusion, merchant portals, transport, and smart cities. To find out more about how BPC can help businesses deliver a seamless payments processing experience to consumers, please visit www.bpcbt.com

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Source: Company press release.

Categories: Partnership