MUSCAT: Meethaq Islamic Banking, the leading Islamic financial services provider in the Sultanate, has won Global Finance’s Best Islamic Digital Bank (Oman) Award. Meethaq won the prestigious award based on a number of criteria including success in getting customers to use digital offerings, growth of digital customers, breadth of product offerings, evidence of tangible benefits gained from digital initiatives, and website and mobile banking design and functionality. The award was received on Meethaq’s behalf by Mohammed Sultan Al Habsi, Chief Representative, UAE Representative Office, Bank Muscat.

Speaking on the occasion, Sami Bait Rashid, Assistant General Manager, Retail Banking – Meethaq said: “Meethaq is delighted to win this prestigious Islamic Digital Banking award and we would like to thank Global Finance for recognising our commitment to continue investing in state-of-the-art technology to further increase efficiency and enhance customer service. Meethaq, which recently celebrated its 10^th Anniversary, is committed to offering the latest financial services and solutions in line with global financial trends. Meethaq continues to emphasize on service delivery through multiple channels and introduce new products that cater to different customer segments thereby maintaining its leadership in hi-tech products and services.”

Over the past two years, Meethaq has witnessed a remarkable rise in e-channels usage including a rapid uptake in contactless payment solutions through its various debit and credit cards. Customers are able to transact quickly, securely and 24/7 via mobile banking, Internet banking, contact centre, over 40 ATMs and CDMs in addition to free access to Bank Muscat’s ATM-CDM network of over 800 ATMs/CDMs, which is an affirmation of its customer-centric strategy. In fact, a deep analysis of Meethaq customer transactions at branches has revealed that over 88 percent of all eligible transactions have already moved to digital channels with branch transactions confined to mostly those beyond the limits for Internet and Mobile banking.

Meethaq offers a large number of digital options including convenient instant account opening, local and international account-to-account, fund transfers, scheduled payments, card management, utility bill payments, Zakat, Sadaqah and Waqf donations, identification of branch locations, Feedback Management System integration, acquiring of ecommerce vouchers as well as real-time email and SMS alerts for both financial and non-financial transactions.

Meethaq continues to move forward with its strategy of launching new innovative digital services which are adapted to customers’ needs, evolving trends, and customers spending behavior whilst engaging customers through marketing campaigns to promote the ease and highly secure nature of digital transactions.