NEWS
OAB commences
instant issuance of
NFC-Equipped Cards
eGovernment
excellence to
be recognised
by awards
S
ubmissions for an eGovernment award
have been considered by a panel of
experts in Oman.
The submitted projects, from a variety of
government entities, private organisations
and SMEs, are being evaluated for the
Sultan Qaboos Award for Excellence in
eGovernment 2018. This has been organised
by The Information Technology Authority.
The jury committee will provide detailed
reports consisting of recommendations
and suggestions for improvements to the
participating projects that seek to enhance
the eServices in the sultanate.
The committee has been will evaluating 64
submitted projects with 47 from government
entities, nine from private organisations and
eight from SMEs.
It consists of 13 international jurors, three of
whom are from the Sultanate of Oman.
O
man Arab Bank (OAB) has launched
a new Instant Issuance service for
debit cards in a number of its branches
across the Sultanate.
The new Instant Issuance service is
capable of personalising and issuing
EMV/NFC chip-equipped cards and is the
first of its kind in Oman.
OAB will launch the service in the remainder
of its branches before the end of the year.
Prior to the launch of this new service, OAB
debit Cards were printed and personalised
at the head office and then mailed to
branches; a production cycle that used to
take between two to five days.
However, with the newly implemented
Instant Issuance system, several OAB
branches across the country are now
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INTELLIGENTCIO
The jury session is the final phase of the
selection process of the winning projects. The
Jury works independently and impartially
abiding by the award’s rules and guidelines.
fully capable of personalising and issuing
debit cards, complete with EMV/NFC
chip data preparation.
This makes OAB the first bank capable
of instant issuance of cards with NFC
technology at its branches in Oman.
Rashad Al Shaikh, the Deputy Head
of Retail Group, said: “Each and every
technological advancement we pursue at
the bank is aimed at improving efficiency
and providing our customers with the
best possible customer service or other
value-added benefits.
New categories for government entities
were added to the award including best
open data initiative and best government
application for smart devices.
Large organisations in the private sector
have competed in two categories: Best
private application for smart devices and
best private eService.
“This new service we offer is no
different. With it, we are able to
provide our customers with completely
personalised, fully functional, NFC-
equipped debit cards at the very
moment the new account is opened.”
www.intelligentcio.com