In celebration of the triumphant live-run of the Electronic Image-based Check Clearing Project in the Sultanate of Oman for the past 6 months, the Central Bank of Oman (CBO) has announced its ambitious plan to commence Phase II of the project. This phase will include all regions and will extend the solution's value reach to all member banks' branches across the nation. In parallel, ProgressSoft proudly affirmed its commitment and readiness to indulge the Omani banking body in yet further advancements of its services and technology offerings.
This first phase of the project involved deployment of ProgressSoft's Electronic Image-based Check Clearing Solution (PS-ECC) to create a digital network that connects CBO with all the Sultanate's 16 banks. This enabled an electronic exchange of check images and data to replace the traditional clearing process in Oman. Up till this moment, PS-ECC has successfully cleared 768,706 Checks with a total amount of RO 3,186,230,560 (8'362'809'868.8 USD).
Following this achievement, CBO now aspires to widen the geographical scope and elevate the technological aptitude of the project in order to actualize D+0 clearing services. Phase II will connect all branches and clearing centres, which are scattered over 212,457 square kilometers to conclude an end-to-end automated process for all four legs of the clearing process.
CBO has conveyed its need for banks to extend their connectivity and functionality to enable check truncation at the earliest point of deposit. Accordingly, ProgressSoft is currently offering banks its proficient integration services between PS-ECC and the banks' back-end systems. The company has designed three categories of integration, allowing banks to select the integration model that suites their budgetary, workload, technology and customer service strategies.
The conclusion of this project will pave the way for 'Express' and 'Urgent' check clearing services to be offered by banks to their customers. It will also present banks with an expedited clearing cycle, increased responsiveness, elimination of multiple data entry, penalties, extra charges and SLA violations, and reduction of fraud and total cost of ownership.
PS-ECC integration with the core banking system is also useful when the bank opts for remote deposit capture at the Corporate or ATM levels by implementing products like ProgressSoft's Prompt RDC and Prompt ATM/CDM.