Muscat: Bank Muscat, the flagship financial services provider in the Sultanate, and food and beverages giant Oman Refreshment Co (Pepsi Oman) have signed an agreement to on-board Oman Refreshment Co operations to Bank Muscat’s B2B platform while also providing access to the bank’s Remote Deposit Capture (RDC) facility. The agreement was signed by Youssef Ezzikhe, Chief Executive Officer, Oman Refreshment Co, and Tariq Atiq, DGM – Transaction & Public Sector Banking, Bank Muscat recently and comes as part of the Bank’s initiative to onboard more corporates to the various digital solutions and services provided by the bank.

The Bank’s B2B solution will seamlessly and securely integrate with Oman Refreshment Co’s ERP to provide an automated, two-way data transfer service for high volume online payments. The corporate will be able to optimise the efficiency of its employees by saving on man-hours since personal visits and face-to-face interaction with bank employees will not be required on a daily basis for payment processing and reconciliation. Thus Oman Refreshment Co will be in a position to provide better service to its vendors, customers and other stakeholders because of the straight-through nature of online channels. The food and beverages giant’s operations in Oman will also be able to achieve a high degree of automation in payables reconciliation and minimise risks related to payment processes because of the onboarding to the new Host to Host/B2B Connect solution.

Bank Muscat’s RDC facility is an online cheque clearing solution which facilitates faster clearance and efficiencies in account receivables. Oman Refreshment Co employees will be able to scan the images of cheques from their offices or branches before these cheques are physically submitted to the Bank for clearing. This will lead to faster credit with complete management information services (MIS) and save time, effort and cost for Oman Refreshment Co in handling its collections.

Tariq Atiq, DGM – Transaction & Public Sector Banking, Bank Muscat, said: “In step with the rapid developments in digitalisation, the bank’s strategy is to help corporates keep pace with these developments and optimise their performance. Digital solutions are playing a bigger role in the development of the economy today. With a series of innovative online banking and technology developments, Bank Muscat is in a position to address the complete payment requirements of organisations of any size.”

Youssef Ezzikhe, CEO, Oman Refreshment Co, said: “This agreement will facilitate exchange of knowledge between both parties and enhance the service level provided to our customers. We hope that the digitalization of services will greatly improve satisfaction for our stakeholders. We are proud to partner with Bank Muscat to pioneer these new digital initiatives.”

The niche B2B Connect solution is an advanced version of online banking targeted mainly at large corporates. With the B2B Connect solution, corporates can carry out payment approvals in their ERP and the information can flow to the bank for processing. Through this solution, institutions can build an efficient and robust payment and reconciliation system. 

The bank’s corporate online banking platform serves as a key solution for corporate payments. With the integration of corporate enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems with the online banking platform, a complete digitalisation process is now in place for corporate payables as well as reconciliation. 
Bank Muscat also offers corporates other tailor-made solutions such as the Direct Debit solution. The Transaction Banking team provides expert advice to institutional partners on structuring an automated and efficient accounts-receivables process. As a trusted banking partner, Bank Muscat remains committed to supporting institutions in smoothly transitioning towards efficient technology-focused processes.