Mr. Abdullah bin Ahmed Al-Nabhani, General Manager of MCD, stated that MCD had conducted a detailed and comprehensive vendor evaluation and selection process, prior to selection of Atos Worldline from among the reputed CSD system providers in the world. Subsequently, MCD and Atos Worldline have been able to successfully complete the contract negotiations resulting in the signing of the contract agreement for the implementation of the new CSD system.

Mr. Nabhani has stated that Atos Worldline has offered MCD the Universal Clearing, Settlement & Depository [UCS] system as a base product. UCS is an Integrated CCP and CSD product which supports multiple asset classes on a single platform - Equities, Debt & Derivatives. In the latest version of UCS proposed to MCD, Atos Worldline will also be providing the full-fledged Clearing, Settlement and Depository [CSD] functionalities, which are being specifically developed for MCD.

UCS product is being developed to operate under LINUX based environment and using Oracle database. UCS product has multi-tiered architecture and design involving - Platform independence; Component based architecture and Web-based using an Object oriented solution. MCD aims to fully exploit the use of latest technology for its new CSD system to cater to the future needs and requirements of all its market participants.

Mr. Al-Nabhani also added that MCD plans to leverage on the new CSD system to introduce new services and products in an easy and quick manner. With the new CSD system, MCD will also be enhancing the CSD process efficiencies by way of process re-engineering the existing practices and methods, while at the same time aligning itself with the International standards and practices. It is being planned for the live implementation of the new CSD system to be done by Q2, 2012.

Finally, Mr. Al-Nabhani stated that these steps are being initiated with the objective to enhance the confidence of all the market players, locally as welll as internationally, to invest in the Omani capital market.