AFS set to assist Bank Dhofar in becoming the first EMV compliant Visa and MasterCard credit cards issuer in the Sultanate of Oman.

Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain- March 14, 2006

Arab Financial Services Company B.S.C (c) (AFS), the region’s leading provider of electronic-payments and consumer finance-outsourcing services, has announced an agreement with Bank Dhofar to provide the bank with EMV migration services which will ultimately enable Bank Dhofar to issue of EMV compliant Visa and MasterCard credit cards for its clients.

According to the recently signed agreement, AFS will provide Bank Dhofar with technical support as well as consulting services to facilitate the migration to its current system to become EMV compliant. The services AFS is set to provide Bank Dhofar with include; EMV certification support, Applications System setup, online testing and certification, Launching live program, Chip Card Vendor Selection.

Quote Bank Dhofar: ‘EMV Compliance is a high priority for Bank Dhofar. The Bank is committed to successfully completing the EMV migration requirements as soon as possible, we believe in bringing our card services to a world-class standard and EMV compliance is a must to achieve that objective. AFS was naturally the preferred partner because of its extensive experience in payment cards management and its state-of-the-art- technical capabilities.’

EMV is arguably the most radical change to the card payment infrastructure since the original introduction of payment cards. The implementation of an EMV smart card based payment infrastructure will not only put an end to card related fraud, it will also support a whole new generation of card-based applications that will reduce operating costs, create new business opportunities and revenue channels for banks.

Mr. Rasool Hujair AFS CEO commented, ‘Moving ahead with this agreement means that Bank Dhofar will be one of the very first banks in Oman with card products meeting the EMV requirements of Visa and MasterCard. We are pleased with the assignment to enable the banks achieve their business objectives.’

‘We offer our client banks a smooth migration to EMV at a lowest cost possible; our Card Personalization Center is both Visa /MasterCard certified, equipped with the state-of-the-art technology and supported by experienced staff to produce EMV compliant cards that can be delivered to banks’ customers around the clock’. Mr. Hujair concluded.