Oman is not yet one of the 27 national members of the BCBS.
However, the CBO has called upon Omani banks to comply with Basel III standards and issued guidelines on how to implement compliance to this standard which started phasing in from January 2013 and will continue until December 2018,- i.e.in line with the global timeline set out in Basel III for the implementation of its reforms.
Will Basel III work in Oman, particularly with regards to Islamic financing? It seems so! HE Hamood Sangour Al-Zadjali, Executive President of the CBO, in an interview for the Oman Economic Review in April 2014, discussed Oman’s compliance with international best banking practices and stated:
“We have prescribed minimum regulatory capital for banks at 12 per cent of risk-weighted assets, much higher than that prescribed by the Basel norms. Moreover, the actual capital adequacy ratio is much higher at around 16 per cent. The CBO is well ahead in the implementation of Basel III framework, issued in November 2013. Some of the main features of these final guidelines prescribed by the CBO include: minimum common equity tier 1 ratio has been prescribed at seven per cent of risk weighted assets, while minimum Tier 1 capital ratio has been prescribed at nine per cent of risk weighted assets and the minimum total capital adequacy ratio has been prescribed at 12 per cent of risk weighted assets. All these norms … are in line with the international best practices prescribed by the Basel III.”
