The Central Bank of Oman (CBO) has followed in the footsteps of its peers by launching its Fintech Regulatory Sandbox, as the Sultanate gears up to nurture its fintech ecosystem, of which Islamic fintech solutions would be a core pillar.
The regulator, which has released a framework governing the sandbox, has selected payment solutions and services as a key vertical focus for the first cohort.
Once accepted into the program, fintech start-ups will be able to test their solutions within a regulatory-lite environment. CBO Governor Tahir Salim Al-Omari explained that the regulatory sandbox is a step toward keeping up with international developments in the financial industry driven by technology.
It is hoped that the engagement with market participants through the sandbox would also assist the central bank in crafting flexible regulatory policies and further initiatives to promote innovation in the Sultanate while maintaining financial stability.
The CBO is not the only one in Oman lobbying for fintech progress. The Capital Market Authority is also exploring new fintech initiatives including implementing distributed ledger technology for the Takaful and insurance sector as well as introducing its own crowdfunding platform as reported by IFN last week.