MUSCAT (AFP) - Oman's Capital Markets Authority (CMA) has approved in principle the merger of the country's two leading banks, which is also expected to obtain the nod from the trade ministry and shareholders, an investment expert said.
"Technically and legally speaking, the ministry of trade and industry and the shareholders can block the merger" of BankMuscat and National Bank of Oman (NBO) ... but this is very unlikely," Javed Nawaz, who has been closely monitoring the merger talks, told AFP.
The merger is expected to take place on January 1.
The executive president of the Central Bank of Oman said in remarks published Monday that the CBO had decided to "accord in principle its approval" of the proposed merger.
The move "will help in the creation of an entity that will be well poised to provide better value to the people and investor community in the country, while considerably strengthening the base of the banking industry in the sultanate," Hamud Sanghur al-Zejali said, quoted by the state-run Oman Daily Observer.
CMA president Yahya bin Said al-Jabri made similar remarks in a statement announcing that his authority had also approved the proposed merger "in principle."
The merger "will create a significant financial entity that will be far better equipped to meet the needs of an emerging market, provide much better value to its stakeholders and compete on par with some of the finest banks across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region," he said.
The GCC groups Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.