OAB celebrates opening of two new state-of-the-art branches

With the opening of these new branches, OAB aims to deliver a modern and convenient banking experience, enhanced facilities and services

MUSCAT: Oman Arab bank (OAB) recently celebrated the official opening for two of its latest ‘new experience’ branches.

The first was the new-look branch at Nizwa Grand Mall, while the second is OAB’s first ever branch to be opened in Al Hail. With the opening of these new branches, OAB aims to deliver a modern and convenient banking experience, enhanced facilities and services, and in the case of Nizwa Grand Mall providing extended opening hours to customers until 5pm daily. The new locations take the number of branches within the OAB network to 66 across Oman.

The opening of the Nizwa Grand Mall branch, which took place on May 24, under the auspices of Lt Gen Ahmed bin Harith Al Nabhani, Chief of Staff of the Sultan’s Armed Forces, and was attended by Hani M. Al Zubair, OAB board member, Amin Al Husseini, CEO of OAB; together with other members of the bank’s executive management. The following day saw the official opening of the Al Hail branch, under the auspices of His Highness Al Sayyid Marwan bin Turki Al Said, DG Research and Development Studies at the Supreme Council of Planning, and was attended by Mulham Al Jarf, OAB Board member, and Amin Al Husseini, CEO of OAB; together with his leadership team of his leadership team.

Amin Al Husseini said, “OAB is proudly one of the country’s premier banking institutions, and we remain focused on exceeding expectations and delivering a new banking experience to our customers. We achieve this by delivering class-leading products and services, while building our branch network to give greater access and convenience to our growing customer base. The opening of these new branches aligns with our goal; to offer cus- tomers a modern and convenient banking experience. Additionally, the new Nizwa branch is also the first OAB branch open from 9am to 5pm, offering the complete range of banking services.”

Al Hussaini added, “These two modern branches are the beginning of a full transformation journey for our consumer banking business, and as such there will be similar rollouts in the near future.”

Highlighting Oman Arab Bank’s transformation strategy, both branches feature an enhanced brand identity with refreshed look and feel. The sleek, modern, and streamlined look is further augmented by a number of new fea- tures and systems introduced for the first time within the bank.

The new branches see the introduction of a customer meet and greet facility with streamlined queuing system, video walls for bank news, private customer service spaces with multimedia screens for a more personal interaction, together with digital signature pads and ID Card readers within the advisory station design. Each of these advanced features has been designed to facilitate a more paperless operation within the branch environment.

For OAB’s ‘Elite’ banking customers, each new look branch also has a dedicated Elite reception, lounge area and Elite Relationship Manager office to give premium customers an elegant and private banking experience. Aesthetically, the new branches feature a contemporary design that takes inspiration from the ‘Omani Skyline’, and uses a colour palette of white, brown, grey, and blue; wherein the browns denote the sand deserts, grey referencing the mountains, and the blue glass overhangs representing the sky.

“Both branches feature our new zonal structure with each of the four zones colour coded and dedicated to a specific task – meet and greet, transactions, customer support, and Elite. This approach not only simplifies the structure and facilities of the branch for our customers, but also streamlines operations and improves efficiency. For the new Nizwa branch, we are excited to be located in the Nizwa Grand Mall, which is very handy for our customers who can complete all their banking services while visiting the mall. The ‘new look’ branches also reaffirm our commitment towards providing customers with a fast, convenient, and trouble-free banking experience that is unique to OAB,” said Fahd Amjad, GM of Retail Banking at OAB.