Think about a typical customer in Muscat. A salary account at one bank, a car loan at another, a motor insurance policy, perhaps some investments and an end-of-service entitlement. Several financial relationships, yet each institution largely sees only its own part of the customer's financial position.
The customer sees the whole picture. The individual institutions do not.
That fragmentation is one of the issues open banking has started to address, and Oman has already taken a meaningful step in this direction.
The Central Bank of Oman has established an Open Banking Regulatory Framework covering the licensing and ongoing obligations of Open Banking Service Providers. The framework provides for Account Information Services and Payment Initiation Services, creating a regulated foundation through which authorized providers can, with customer consent, access certain banking information and initiate services through secure connections.
This is more than connecting another application to a bank account. It changes how financial data can be accessed, by whom, and with whose authority.
It also forms part of a wider modernization of Oman's financial sector. The Banking Law issued under Royal Decree No. 2/2025 updated the legal framework governing banking activities and formally addressed digital banking. The Central Bank of Oman has also established a dedicated Regulatory Framework for Digital Banks, while fintech innovation continues to be supported through regulatory sandbox arrangements.
Another development matters just as much: data protection.
The Personal Data Protection Law, issued under Royal Decree No. 6/2022, is now fully enforceable following the end of the compliance transition period in February 2026. Consent, privacy, individual rights, breach notification, and controls around the handling and transfer of personal data are therefore current considerations for institutions operating in Oman.
That matters for a simple reason. Financial connectivity cannot develop sustainably unless customers understand who can access their information, what can be accessed, why it is being used, and how it is protected. In Oman, data protection is already part of the legal environment within which future financial innovation must operate.
Oman therefore has several important foundations already developing. The question is what could eventually be built on them.
Internationally, the discussion around financial data sharing has expanded beyond open banking toward a broader concept known as open finance.
The distinction is important.
Open banking generally focuses on banking and payment-account information and related services. Open finance extends similar principles of consent-based data sharing across a wider range of financial products and services. Depending on the regulatory model, this can include credit, savings, investments, mortgages, pensions, and insurance.
For Oman, that distinction raises an interesting structural question.
The Central Bank of Oman regulates banking and payment activities. The Financial Services Authority, established in 2024, supervises the capital market and insurance sectors. A broader financial data ecosystem could therefore involve services operating across different regulatory perimeters.
Return to the customer in Muscat. The bank account and financing relationship sit within one regulatory environment. The investments and insurance policy sit within another.
Open banking can largely operate within the banking and payments perimeter. Open finance, by its nature, could potentially extend across a wider part of the financial system.
That is not necessarily an obstacle. It is a design question.
How would common technical and data standards operate across different financial sectors? How would responsibility be determined when a customer journey involves a bank, insurer, investment provider, and regulated third party? How should consent be captured, managed, and withdrawn in a way that satisfies both financial regulation and data protection requirements? How can cybersecurity and operational resilience be maintained across an increasingly interconnected environment? And how can smaller institutions participate without creating disproportionate cost and complexity?
These questions matter because trust becomes as important as connectivity.
The potential value is also practical.
Consider an Omani SME seeking finance. Assessing its financial position may require information from multiple sources, including accounts, cash flows, liabilities, payment history, and supporting documentation. With appropriate customer consent and regulation, more connected financial information could make parts of that process faster and better informed for both the business and the lender.
For individuals, a broader view of financial relationships could make banking, borrowing, savings, investments, and insurance easier to understand and manage. For banks, insurers, finance companies, investment providers, and fintech firms, appropriately permitted data could support services that are more closely aligned with actual customer circumstances.
These possibilities also connect with Oman's wider national direction under Oman Vision 2040, including financial sector development, digital transformation, innovation, and economic diversification.
One distinction, however, must remain clear.
Open finance has not been established in Oman as a formal regulatory framework equivalent to the current Open Banking Regulatory Framework. This is therefore a discussion about a possible future evolution, not an announced policy direction.
But Oman now has important building blocks: modernized banking legislation, an Open Banking Regulatory Framework, a framework for digital banks, fintech experimentation, and an enforceable data protection regime.
The question is therefore no longer only how banking in Oman becomes more open. It is how, over time, a trusted and connected financial ecosystem could create greater value for Omani customers, Omani businesses, and the wider economy.
And perhaps one day, that customer in Muscat will be able to see the whole financial picture in one place.
