The Central Bank of Oman (CBO) officially launched Maal, the Sultanate's national payment card scheme, in November 2025. Maal-branded debit cards are being issued by Omani banks for domestic transactions, with international co-badging available through partnerships with existing global card networks.
Domestic Transaction Routing
Maal's primary purpose is to route domestic card transactions through national infrastructure rather than international card scheme networks. Domestic Maal transactions are processed by the CBO's national switch, reducing per-transaction costs and keeping transaction data within Oman's borders.
GCC Card Sovereignty Trend
Oman joins Saudi Arabia (mada), the UAE (Jaywan), and other Gulf states in developing national card schemes. The common driver is reducing interchange fees paid to Visa and Mastercard for domestic transactions and maintaining data sovereignty. Saudi Arabia's mada processes over 95% of domestic debit transactions.
What This Means
National card schemes in small markets face a classic chicken-and-egg challenge: merchants need cardholders and vice versa. Oman's approach of mandating Maal on all domestically-issued debit cards, while co-badging with Visa or Mastercard for international use, follows the proven model established by Saudi Arabia's mada and India's RuPay. The key metric to watch is domestic transaction share over the next 12-18 months.