Twitter banking to become a reality: NBO

MUSCAT: “Twitter banking is coming up shortly”, said CEO Ahmed Al Musalmi of Oman’s first local bank, NBO, in an exclusive interview with Times TV.

The new social media system of banking will incorporate a number of e-banking services, making life more convenient for customers. “If you want to enquire about your account balance, then just tweet”, he said.

These innovative products, including the user-friendly NBO mobile app, were created in the bank’s innovation lab, Ibtikar, where young people working at the bank come up with tech-forward solutions to solve customer problems. “(Using the app) you can make fund transfers across banks at the tip of your fingers. You can enquire about loan eligi- salary payment files in hard copy. They came up with an idea of processing the payrolls digitally, without any hassles. Such widespread use of technology in the banking sector does pose cyber threats, which NBO has considered.

Cyber threats

“Cyber threats and cyber security are number one on our agenda. We’re investing a lot of money to build defensive measures to deal with these threats. We are conscious of that, but are prepared to deal with it.” Al Musalmi noted, “A lot of features (with regards to twitter banking) take into consideration cyber security to secure customer information.”