IFC Oman was established in January 2026 by Royal Decree No. 8/2026, which issued the IFC Oman Law. That law created a financial free zone with financial and administrative independence, its own body of legislation, independent authorities and dedicated courts, while general Omani law continues to apply within IFC Oman only in defined areas such as criminal, tax, anti-money laundering and national security matters, unless otherwise provided.
The new decrees were issued on 10 November 2026. Each takes effect on the day after its publication in the Official Gazette. The annexed laws themselves have not yet been published, so this note summarises what is known from the decrees and will be updated once the full texts are available.
The decrees signal that IFC Oman is approaching operational readiness, putting Oman alongside the region's established financial centres. Businesses considering IFC Oman should note the following.
Market entry: financial institutions, fund managers, holding companies and professional service providers can start mapping their structures against the Operating and Regulatory Laws once published.
Dispute resolution: a dedicated court system gives parties a new forum option. Existing and new contracts with an IFC Oman nexus should be reviewed for governing-law and jurisdiction wording, including how IFC Oman courts will sit alongside onshore courts and arbitration.
Tax planning: groups within the scope of the Top-up Tax Law should factor the minimum tax into any IFC Oman structure from the outset, rather than relying on free-zone status alone.
Regulatory interface: entities will need to manage two layers of rules, IFC Oman legislation and the onshore laws that continue to apply, including Anti Money Laundering and tax.
The full texts of the Operating, Regulatory and Courts Laws are awaited in the Official Gazette, together with any implementing regulations and rules to be issued by the IFC Oman. We are monitoring publication closely and will issue a detailed analysis of each law once available.
For advice on how these developments may affect your business, please contact us.
This law is expected to govern how businesses are set up and run inside IFC Oman, such as registration, licensing and day-to-day operation of IFC Oman entities. The details will only be clear once the text is published.
This law is expected to set out the framework for supervising financial services within IFC Oman, building on the independent regulatory authority created by the IFC Oman Law.
The IFC Oman Law already provides for specialised courts of first instance and appeal, issuing judgments in the name of the Sultan, with jurisdiction over civil, commercial and financial disputes connected to IFC Oman. The Courts Law is expected to set out their jurisdiction, procedure and enforcement rules in detail. This will be of particular interest to parties drafting governing-law and dispute-resolution clauses.
This decree confirms that Oman's Top-up Tax Law on constituent entities of multinational groups, issued by Royal Decree No. 70/2024, applies within IFC Oman. That law is Oman's implementation of the OECD Pillar Two global minimum tax. In practice, constituent entities of in-scope multinational groups cannot treat an IFC Oman presence as falling outside the minimum tax regime.