BankDhofar teams up with Path Solutions

Path Solutions will be the core banking system provider to BankDhofar for its Islamic operations. The system, entitled IMAL, is the first certified core banking system for the bank’s Islamic operations. The two companies signed an agreement which will see them work together to deliver Sharia-compliant products to BankDhofar customers. Speaking on the signing of the agreement, Tony Mahoney, CEO, BankDhofar said, “We turned to Path Solutions because of its strong reputation and proven track record in Oman, and its ability to support banks growing their businesses.”

BankMuscat launches mBanking

BankMuscat has launched a state-of-the-art mobile banking application redefining banking with the concept of ‘anytime, anywhere’ service. His Excellency Ahmed bin Sulaiman bin Saleh Al Maimani, undersecretary of financial, administration and regional affairs at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, presided at the grand launch ceremony of mBanking attended by dignitaries, senior government and private sector officials. With mBanking, BankMuscat has made banking truly mobile for the largest banking family in Oman who can now bank 24/7 ‘anytime, anywhere’. Notably, the mBanking application works on all mobile phones and is customised for iPhones, Blackberry, Android and Java based phones with simple icons and menus. The mBanking application is available in both English and Arabic.

KR starts new insurance services

Khimji Ramdas (KR) recently launched Khimji Ramdas Insurance Services under the umbrella of Khimji Ramdas Shipping, part of its Projects and Logistics Group.The new entity will offer professional risk and insurance intermediary services across all lines of business. With more than two decades of experience as insurance agents with Blue Eagle Shipping and Insurance Services under the group, the new insurance agency division will graduate into full-fledged insurance brokers and address the growing needs of the market. “We have learnt the intricacies of insurance business for more than two decades now”, said M C Jose, CEO, Projects and Logistics Group. “With insurance added to the portfolio, we are proud to offer all transport related services, which was our vision when we started KR Shipping in 1985.” Pankaj Khimji, director, Khimji Ramdas said, “The new division will have the capability to meet and surpass client expectations in this line of business. We believe that we will soon be one of the top league insurance intermediaries in Oman.”

Bank Nizwa IPO attracts record subscription

Investment management group of Oman Arab Bank, lead issue manager and lead underwriting arranger for Bank Nizwa IPO, released eagerly awaited subscription figures for the Bank Nizwa IPO, surpassing investment community guesses. The initial compilation of figures of all 4 collecting banks show over 11.3 times subscription i.e. over RO681mn (subject to reconciliation) collected against an offer of RO60mn through 37,084 applications.

Lo’ai B Bataineh head of management group of Oman Arab Bank said that this sets the stage for the first Islamic Bank of the Sultanate to make a flying start and Oman Arab Bank is proud to be part of this. We are happy that our efforts for a broad base participation have borne fruits. This makes the Muscat Securities Market very newsworthy across the region and worldwide. Recently IPOs in the region have been few and far between and MSM now appears a very active market considering the subscription levels for Bank Nizwa. This also bodes well for the capital market in general and investment community in particular.

The public subscription started on April 23, 2012 and ended on May 22, 2012. Bataineh added that during the subscription the issue received huge response from both retail and corporate sectors including both new and existing equity market participants.

Nawras to update on data usage while roaming

Nawras has introduced a free SMS notification service to show data usage when roaming. Nawras Ajel (postpaid) customers are now able to closely track data roaming usage while travelling outside the Sultanate which makes it much easier to stay in control of international roaming charges. Data roaming charges vary from country to country and in the past customers have sometimes found it difficult to keep track of it while on the move abroad. When travelling in another GCC country using SmartRoamer, customers will receive a notification when they have consumed the first 20 megabytes (MB) of data and then further notifications for every subsequent 5MB they use. While travelling outside the GCC, the data notification will be received after the first 10MB of data has been consumed and then a further SMS will be sent for every additional 5MB used.

NBO holds core banking training

NBO Academy of Excellence, the training arm of National Bank of Oman, recently held a graduation ceremony to mark the conclusion of its flagship training programme, “NBO Core Banking Programme”. The programme, running for 10 consecutive weeks, is targeted at NBO’s young Omani staff, to offer them a strong grounding for a truly rewarding banking career. The programme is a comprehensive offering that encompasses complete knowledge, skills, and attitude deemed necessary for a successful start in the banking world. It is the right combination of technical banking, and behavioural and soft skills. The delivery of the programme was a mix of instructor-led lectures, simulation of real-life branch scenarios, role-plays, and hands-on core banking systems training. As many as 26 young Omani staff attended the programme and completed it successfully.

CBFS LAUNCHES ISLAMIC FINANCE TRAINING

The College of Banking and Financial Studies (CBFS) has launched recently in-house training offerings for four globally recognised certifications in Islamic finance. They are the Islamic Finance Qualification (IFQ) of the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investment (CISI), the Diploma in Islamic Finance of Certified Institute of management Accountants (CIMA), UK, Certified Islamic Public Accountant (CIPA), and Chartered Sharia Auditor and Advisor (CSAA) of the Accounting and Audit Organisation of Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI), Bahrain. HE Hamood Sangour Al Zadjali, executive president, Central Bank of Oman, delivered the keynote address at the launch function recently at the college premises.

Microsoft, SARCO sign distribution accord

Microsoft has entered into a distributorship agreement with SARCO covering its Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) and commercial business for Oman. The agreement comes in support of Microsoft’s plan to widen its reach in Omani market and increase its presence into the reseller channel. Under the terms of this partnership, SARCO will be responsible for steering the reseller business, increasing Microsoft OEM product revenue and supporting with the development of the local channel. Welcoming SARCO into the fold, OEM director, Microsoft Gulf, Armagan Demir said Oman continued to be an important market for Microsoft primarily due to its investment in wide scale access to information technology as a key driver for growth and competitiveness. SARCO CEO Ajay Ganti said they were honoured and excited to have been chosen by Microsoft as their distributor for Oman.

Oman Data Park debuts at COMEX

A new COMEX entry that drew a lot of interest this year was the Oman Data Park stall. The buzz was about the co-location and cloud computing solutions offered by the company. For enterprises looking to streamline their IT systems for operational efficiency, the Oman Data Park stall was easily the best place to learn about customised solutions to their IT requirements. A joint venture between Omantel and 4Trust, Oman Data Park (OPD) was established in 2011 and is conveniently head quartered in Muscat. It provides quality IT and business process services, with extensive capabilities to manage, enhance and support office IT and business processes. Its Tier 3 Data Centre at KOM-4 provides reliable co-location, managed hosting and other allied services, delivered through highly experienced, committed and motivated teams.

Port of Salalah showcases connectivity

Port of Salalah has welcomed executives and representatives from the shipping world’s largest shipping lines and principal customers in the local market to handle its 30 millionth TEU (Twenty Foot Equivalent Unit) container, recently. The distinguishing aspects of Port of Salalah, the second largest port in the region, including its direct connections to the world and shortest transit times to the major markets in Europe, Asia, Africa and the US from the region, were conveyed during a thorough tour of the port’s container terminal. The tour of Port of Salalah also substantiated its unique position to benefit customers through the Salalah Free Zone and Free Trade Agreements (FTA) accessing United States and Singapore, as well as sea-land-air agreements with local businesses and faster connection routes to GCC markets. Port of Salalah’s customers include the world’s blue-chip names in ocean carriers such as Maersk Line, APL, CSAV etc.

Oman, Korea to expand tourism cooperation

The Ministry of Tourism sees World Expo 2012 at Yeosu as a unique opportunity to build awareness of Oman among Koreans, at the business and leisure levels, according to HE Maitha Al Mahrouqi, Undersecretary of the ministry. “We think our cultural heritage, landscapes and natural diversity showcased at Yeosu will appeal to Korean business and leisure travellers, and make it a stand-out destination in the Gulf,” she said. In 2011, trade between Oman and Korea reached $6.3bn, excluding engineering, procurement and contractions contracts to Korean companies.

Major companies from the Republic of Korea are also partnering in the development of Oman’s new city on the Sea of Arabia (Duqm) and providing high tech support for Oman’s water and power generation schemes. As trade ties grow, the ministry believes this is the opportune time for engagement to encompass tourism and thus add a vital new dimension to the cooperation between the two countries.

Green villas from The Wave

The Wave, Muscat announced the latest sales launch of its Reehan Gardens villas. This latest sales launch follows the successful sellout of the last marina village apartments in Almeria East in March, 2012. Located to the east side of the master-planned development, Reehan Gardens will be one of the ‘greenest’ precincts within The Wave, Muscat with more green public spaces for the community. In addition, a green buffer zone and pedestrian walkway has been incorporated along 18 November Street to enhance the livability of the precinct which will also have easy access to the new Greg Norman designed course at Almouj Golf and the Fairmont hotel when completed. The launch comprises 107 large twin villas and traditional detached villas in 3-7 bedroom configurations, starting from RO200,000. The Reehan Gardens villas have been carefully designed to offer residents more efficient use of space inside and outside the villas, with optional extras including swimming pools and children’s playrooms.

Omantel links ’Veronica’ with main network

Omantel has completed building the telecom infrastructure to link the Floating Hotel ‘Veronica’ in the Willayat of Duqm. The company has linked the Floating Hotel ’Veronica’ with the Omantel network which enabled the hotel to enjoy state-of-the-art corporate solutions offered by Omantel irrespective of the fact that it was built on the sea. The technical experience of Omantel engineers has been instrumental in the success of the project.

Says Salim Said Al-Fudhaili, manager of industrial sector sales in the corporate business unit at Omantel, “This is the first project of its kind in the Sultanate which shows the capability of Omantel teams in providing telecom services even if they require special technical knowledge”.

SHELL holds graduation ceremony

A new batch of 130 Omanis graduated at ‘Career and Prospects 2012’ annual ceremony organised by Shell Development Oman (SDO) at Hotel Crowne Plaza recently, under the auspices of HE Sheikh Mohammed bin Said Al Kalbani, Minister of Social Development. The 130 graduates were trained in vocational specialisations including AutoCAD engineering design, occupational health and safety, sales and debt collection. Among the graduates were also people with special needs who participated in special programmes in carpentry. The programmes were implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of Manpower, Nizwa University, The Association for Welfare of the Handicapped Children, Oman Society for Petroleum Services (OPAL), designated training institutes and private sector establishments who will employ these graduates.

Haya Water signs 26.7mn contract

Haya Water signed a new contract worth RO26.7mn with Consolidated Contractors Co. to construct wastewater facilities in Qurum and Ilam areas. The new contract was signed recently by Haya Water chairman HE Eng Sultan bin Hamdoon Al Harthy and Fathi Ahmed, regional managing director of Consolidated Contractors Co. The 30-month contract will deliver a wide range of services including 40km of sewer pipes, 66km of lateral pipers, 13 pumping stations, 885 manholes, 5600 inspection chambers and about 5000 of home and government properties connections. The project will also install a 10-km treated effluent irrigation main channel and enable the installation of fibre optic ducts and cable installation. The contractor will also undertake a comprehensive property survey of homes that will be connected to the new modern system as Muscat moves away from the old system of smelly septic tanks.