Central Bank of Oman (CBO)
Do I need a licence for an e-wallet in Oman?
Content reviewed 2026-08-31 · How we check sources
Short answer
Generally, yes. The Central Bank of Oman treats e-wallets as part of payment-account issuance under its Payment Service Provider framework, so a business that issues or operates the regulated wallet service needs the appropriate CBO authorisation.
What this means
The CBO's PSP licensing policy expressly includes e-wallets within account-issuance services. That makes the key question whether your product is actually issuing or operating a payment account or stored payment functionality for the customer, rather than merely displaying balances or providing software to another licensed provider.
Wallet products can combine several regulated functions at once — account issuance, transfers, merchant payments and potentially card issuance. The correct authorisation therefore depends on the full product flow rather than the word 'wallet' alone.
A common alternative is to build the customer experience on top of a CBO-licensed PSP or bank. That can change which entity holds the regulatory permission, but the partnership structure must match the actual responsibilities and customer relationship.
The PSP policy has three licence categories with base capital of OMR 100,000, OMR 200,000 and OMR 500,000. Permitted services and payment-system connections differ by category; security deposit requirements apply separately.
Official sources
Primary rule checked for this update ↗CBO — Licensing Policy for Payment Service Providers (PSP) & Ancillary Payment Service Activities ↗CBO — Fintech / licensed entities under the National Payment Systems Law ↗Some source links need review. The content-review date above is separate from link availability.
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Regulatory research, not legal advice. This answer has the scope and review date shown above; your institution decides applicability.