Bank Sohar, one of Oman's leading banking networks, successfully performed the shifting of its Electronic Check Clearing (ECC) solution from the Central Bank of Oman's data center to its premises and commenced an online integration between its core banking system and the ECC solution, which is provided by ProgressSoft Corporation, the leading provider of innovative payment and imaging solutions. By that, Bank Sohar became the first bank in the Sultanate to operate the online integrated ECC system from its premises.
Bank Sohar went live with the new solution on the 18th of Mar, 2010 upon concluding the needed workflow customization and integration tier of its banking system. The bank has already passed five clearing days with impeccable reconciliation and no issues reported.
This project comes as an extension of the triumphant adoption of ProgressSoft's ECC solution in Oman in 2007, which replaced physical movement of paper-based checks with check image transmission between the Central Bank of Oman (CBO) and all banks in the country. Since that time, all ECC processes have been centrally conducted at the CBO. Bank Sohar's integration reflects the new implementation architecture of the ECC solution from ASP to Bank Model. While both Models are supported by ProgressSoft's system architecture, banks are encouraged to opt for the Bank Model as it fosters the current shift of the ECC site from the data center of CBO to the individual banks' data centers.
Bank Sohar engaged in the project whilst recognizing ProgressSoft's vast experience in integrating the ECC solution with various internal banking systems.
With this integration, Bank Sohar stands to enjoy further advancements of its services and technology. The bank can now experience expedited check clearing and responsiveness, as well as facilitate the introduction of "Express" and "In-house On-Us" check clearing. The integration also eliminates data entry on multiple systems, thus contributing in reducing manual errors and fraud, and avoiding penalties, extra charges and SLA violations.