David Murray Sims joined National Bank of Oman as Chief Executive Officer, on 2nd April, 2008.

Sims holds a Master of Business Administration from Henley Management College, London and has over 30 years of diverse banking experience encompassing corporate banking, retail banking and general management.  He started his career in the financial industry with Midland Bank in the UK in 1978, before moving to Standard Chartered Bank in 1985 where he served for 11 years with their branches in Brunei, South Africa, Bahrain and Oman, and over the period assumed positions of increasing responsibility and seniority.

In 1996, he joined National Bank of Ras Al Khaimah (PSC) where he dedicated 12 years of his professional tenure with the bank.  In 2000, he was promoted as Head of Personal Banking, based in Dubai, where he was instrumental in the Bank's enhanced presence and growth, before taking up his current position as the CEO of NBO.

Vistas spoke to him about technology impacting banking. Excerpts: 

Has Technology made an impact on banking?

Technology has made a huge impact on banking. The advances in technology have made it possible to provide customers with services like Anywhere/Any Branch banking, ATMs and cash and cheque deposit machines, Internet Banking, SMS Banking and Call Centers. All these tools have ensured that banking is not restricted to the branches as in the days of past but the customers can access their accounts anywhere in the world and at any time of the day.

Moreover, usage of the latest technological advancements helps in achieving the desired service and accuracy levels. This also ensures that we can continuously deliver a uniform experience for our customers across all the channels.  

Does NBO provide internet banking and SMS banking?

NBO was the first bank in Oman to offer Internet Banking services. We are also amongst the first banks to offer SMS Banking services to our customers. Apart from the Internet Banking and SMS Banking platforms, NBO was the first bank in Oman to offer its customers the call center services. We also have ATM network covering most of Oman.

What percentage of your customers would be using these
forms of banking?

Almost all our customers use at least one of the Electronic banking channels like, ATMs, cash and cheque deposit machines, Call Center, Internet banking and SMS Banking.

Is there any other high-tech banking feature that you provide?

ATMs, Cash and cheque deposit machines, Call Center, Internet Banking and SMS Banking are the electronic channels through which the customers can transact on their accounts. We believe in continuously offering enhanced services and features on each of these channels to meet and exceed our customers’ need for convenience banking.

How do you address the security concerns of your high-tech banking customers?

As a bank, security of our customers’ data and transactions is of utmost importance. We use the latest data protection technology in partnership with worldwide leaders in this field like VeriSign.

In your view, where does Oman stand in terms of technological advancements in Banking?

Most of the banks in Oman have over the past couple of years either upgraded the systems or implemented new systems. These implementations have provided the banks access to the latest in technology. Banks have been actively offering services through electronic channels like Internet Banking and SMS Banking. We will see more and more services being added to these channels as the popularity of these channels increases amongst the customers, thereby providing access to the bank at any time and from any where.

Tell us about some future high-tech banking services your bank may provide.

As we offer new products and services to our customers, we will make them available through these electronic channels. Apart from the banking products and services, we will enhance our electronic channels so that customers can avail the services our partners.