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Muscat: Come July 1 and Oman will take first step towards different weekend when the banking industry in the country adopts five-day week with Friday-Saturday being the weekend.
Hitherto, banks in Oman closed only on Fridays and worked for an hour less for transactions on Thursdays.
"It is good news and long expected as the other countries in the region have adopted Friday-Saturday as their weekend," a private sector employee, Sayed Faisal, who deals with banks on a daily basis, told Gulf News on Saturday.
He said currently Oman loses three days from Friday to Saturday with the international market. "With Friday and Saturdays banks being close they would work longer hours from Sunday to Thursday," he reckons.
"We will convert this five-day week for the benefit of customers by working 2-4pm everyday extra from Sunday to Thursday," L Chandrashekaran, Country Manager, Bank of Baroda, told Gulf News.
He confirmed that the Central Bank of Oman (CBO) has issued a circular to the banking sector, approving a request from the commercial banks to change their working days and weekend holidays. All the banks will operate from Sunday to Thursday, effective from July and will be closed on Friday and Saturday.
Hamood Bin Sangour Al Zedjali, Executive President of the CBO, was quoted by Arabic daily Al Shabiba that the approval was granted in response to a request from the commercial banks and was aimed at streamlining the banking activities in line with the international practice as most of the international markets and banking establishments operate on Thursdays.
This change would provide the Sultanate's banks an opportunity to conduct businesses with their counterparts worldwide, he added.
The board of governors of the CBO would, in collaboration with the Council of Ministers, hold a meeting in mid-June to endorse the said decision, which would be enforced from July 1.
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