Oman

Issued 1 January 2025 and published in Official Gazette 1578 on 5 January 2025, taking effect the next day. Art. 4 repeals the 2000 Banking Law; Art. 9 gives the CBO the task of regulating and supervising digital banking under rules set by the Board. Article 1(14) defines a digital bank.

Establishes the Financial Services Authority with legal personality and financial and administrative independence, attached to the Council of Ministers. Transfers the Capital Market Authority's assets, rights, obligations and staff to it and moves regulation of accounting and auditing from the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion. Issued 25 March 2024 and published in Official Gazette 1539 on 31 March 2024.

Issued 25 July 2023 and published in Official Gazette 1504 on 30 July 2023. Treats dismissal for filing a complaint or report against the employer as arbitrary unless the complaint is malicious (Art. 12) and requires employers with 50 or more workers to have a grievance system (Art. 8).

Issued 16 June 2022 and published in Official Gazette 1446 on 19 June 2022. Article 6 lists among the Authority's powers approval of the use of technology and digital virtual investments, Article 29 requires securities to be issued, traded and held electronically, and Article 58 lets the Authority impose administrative sanctions from warnings to fines, suspension and licence cancellation.

Issued 9 February 2022 and published in Official Gazette 1429 on 13 February 2022. Requires explicit written consent that the controller can prove (Art. 10), gives data subjects rights to withdraw consent, correction, restriction, a copy, portability and erasure (Art. 11), requires a Ministry permit for sensitive data (Art. 5) and breach notification to the Ministry and the data subject (Art. 19). The Decree takes effect one year after gazette publication.

Attachment to Circular BM 1184 of 29 December 2021. Covers board responsibility, disclosure, fair treatment, data protection (significant consumer data breaches go to the CBO and to affected consumers without undue delay, cl. 3.5.1-3.5.2), complaints handling and financial education for banks and finance and leasing companies.

Issued 13 February 2019; in force 60 days after Official Gazette publication (decree Art. 5). Article 20 has the Capital Market Public Authority set governance principles for public joint stock companies and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry for other companies. No beneficial-ownership register was seen in the English text read; it is an unofficial translation and the Arabic prevails.

Issued 20 February 2018 and published in Official Gazette 1232 on 25 February 2018. Requires a licence for payment-system activity (Art. 5), regulates electronic money issuers (Arts. 39-42), makes settled transfers final (Arts. 43-50) and sets criminal penalties and administrative fines of up to OMR 20,000 (Arts. 55-69).

Issued 2 June 2016 and published in Official Gazette 1149; in force the day after publication (Art. 109). Sets customer due diligence (Arts. 33-38), AML/CFT programmes (Art. 42), 10-year record keeping (Art. 44) and immediate suspicious transaction reporting to the National Centre for Financial Information (Art. 47). Supervisors may fine RO 10,000 to RO 100,000 per violation (Art. 52).

Issued 24 October 2011 and published in Official Gazette 949. Sets the audit scope and powers of the State Audit Institution; audited bodies must notify it within one week of discovering a violation or financial loss (Art. 24), and possible crimes go to the Public Prosecution (Art. 23).

Issued 24 October 2011 and published in Official Gazette 949 on 29 October 2011. Bars officials from using their position for personal gain or dealing with companies in which they have an interest (Arts. 6-9), requires asset declarations (Art. 12) and sets prison terms (Arts. 15-17). Art. 5 obliges officials to report violations; the text has no whistleblower protection.

Issued 6 February 2011 and published in Official Gazette 929 on 15 February 2011, in force the next day. Criminalises offences committed through information technology.

Issued 17 May 2008 and published in Official Gazette 864 on 1 June 2008. Defines electronic signatures (Art. 1) and sets conditions for protected signatures (Art. 22). The competent authority is the Information Technology Authority, which licenses and supervises certification service providers (Arts. 25-26).

Issued 13 December 2000 and published in Official Gazette 685 on 16 December 2000; Art. 2 repealed Banking Law 7/74. Royal Decree 2/2025 (Art. 4) repeals this law. The CBO website still hosts the text.

Joint guidelines of the Capital Market Authority's AML/CFT department and the Central Bank of Oman. They cover business and customer risk assessment, CDD including look-through to natural persons holding 25% or more, wire transfers with a 10-year record rule for intermediary institutions, and reporting to the NCFI. Date not shown.

CBO application form for its Fintech Regulatory Sandbox. Applicants need an Omani commercial registration, proof from the Royal Oman Police that shareholders and executive management have no relevant criminal record, and a testing plan of at least six months. The form cites no founding regulation.

Requires a CBO licence to provide account information or payment initiation services, with base capital of OMR 100,000 (Art. 2.3.4); banks need a no-objection letter instead (Art. 2.2.1). It rests on the National Payment Systems Law (RD 8/2018) and sets 10-year record keeping (Art. 6.5.2) and notification of outsourcing within five working days (Art. 6.7.2). Version 1.0; no issue date in the text read.

Applies to public joint stock companies listed on the Muscat Securities Market; Arabic version issued July 2015, English translation December 2015, updated December 2016. The Thirteenth Principle requires a board CSR charter, an annual CSR plan and a CSR report in the annual report. The Code calls itself binding, and Annex 3 requires disclosure of provisions not complied with.

Sandbox for live testing of new financial products and services in a controlled setting, on which the CBO and the FSA cooperate. The FSA's pages set out definitions, terms for application, joining phases, direct testing, assessment and exit. The page cites no founding law or decision.

Issued by the CBO under the Banking Law and as supervisory authority under Art. 51(c) of Law 30/2016. Addressed to all CBO-licensed financial institutions; earlier CBO instructions stay in force unless they conflict. Issue date not stated in the text.