Finastra had landed the Oman Arab Bank (OAB) account into its lap, with the bank’s agreement to hand over its 65 retail branch operations to the financial service player’s equipment, ‘FusionBanking Essence’.
The Bank, the 3rd largest in the Sultanate, will migrate from its current FusionBanking Equation to the new arrival, with the diversification of its business and plans to accelerate growth and customer-focussed connectivity.
OAB has been on a make-over mode for some time now, with the region’s general market dynamics taking new turns and the oil prices fluctuating as they are the world over.
The entire business model of the Bank has been assessed and analuysed for change.
With its greater emphasis on corporate banking growing on a strong wicket, OAB is now diverting attention to better retail banking services to gain better foothold and market share.
FusionBanking Essence will deliver a consistent banking experience across all channels – helping the bank to attract new customers as well as retain and grow its existing client base, assures the FinTech leader.
Corporate and retail customers will benefit from consolidated account statements across their whole portfolio and tailored offerings from the bank.
Mustafa Srour, CTO at Oman Arab Bank, said, “We are operating in a highly competitive market and as we look to grow our retail offering, we’re committed to providing a high quality and personalized service for our customers in line with Central Bank recommendations. FusionBanking Equation has been a reliable core banking solution but we’ve had it in place for a good while so it makes sense to transition to FusionBanking Essence to future-proof our technology investment and support the evolution of our bank.”
FusionBanking Essence will also enable the bank to bring new products to market faster, increasing liquidity. The agile platform paves the way for OAB to easily develop on the Finastra architecture.
The bank can deploy new processes and configure new products with speed, as well as customizing its offering according to local requirements.
Nadeem Syed, CEO at Finastra, said, “FusionBanking Essence will support the bank’s ambitious growth goals as it continues to build its retail client base and increase revenue. The platform is well placed to differentiate the bank when it comes to taking on the competition in Oman and excels where customer-centricity is concerned. OAB reaffirming its trust in us speaks to the reliability of our solutions and services.”
OAB has been a Misys (now Finastra) customer for over 30 years. The bank also uses FusionBanking Trade Innovation to support both traditional trade and supply chain finance on a single platform.
Process automation and transparency enables the bank to reduce margin costs and deliver a strong level of customer service.
