The service, which is expected to launch before the end of this year, will be the latest in a series of initiatives launched by the country’s umbrella bank to allow transactions to be completed electronically.

The roll-out of these initiatives, which include digital processing of wage payments, inclusion of micro-enterprises in the electronic payment system and the obligation for the private sector to use electronic payments, was made possible by the upgrading of the national payment system. infrastructure, as well as the National Payment Systems (NPS) law, a senior official said.

“Direct debit is a service in which the payer authorizes the payee to withdraw money from their account, and this is done through a money order,” said Ali Hamid al Jabri (photo), systems manager payment, CBO. “Its (deployment) was delayed because the legal framework did not support the ease of direct debit. However, we have now included it in the NPS Law, which now gives the Central Bank the power to regulate direct debit. “

The official made the announcement at a recent conference on new banking developments held in the city.

The umbrella bank, Al Jabri noted, is currently working on the “electronic mandate” for direct debit – an electronic authorization effectively allowing, for example, a utility to deduct monthly bills from a mobile subscription or other payments from the bank. public services.

“When it is operational, the customer can issue an e-mandate from the service provider’s website with an e-authorization form. The customer agrees to the public service to deduct the amount invoiced from his account. We are currently working on electronic authorization, using the PKI public key infrastructure (which falls under the jurisdiction of the Royal Oman Police) and using current services offered by banks such as mobile banking and services Internet banking.

Significantly, once legalized, direct debit warrants will have similar legal power to checks.

The International Bank Account Number (IBAN) system is also about to be launched soon by the Central Bank, a globally accepted format for numbering foreign bank accounts.

The new system will help strengthen the safety and security of banking transactions between customers across national borders. It will complement the SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) system currently in place in the Sultanate of Oman to identify banks. While SWIFT is a code primarily used to locate a specific bank during an international transaction, the IBAN system is used to identify an individual account involved in a foreign transaction.