QCB starts project to develop payment, settlement systems

Satyendra PathakDohaQatar Central Bank (QCB) on Tuesday announced that it has started a project to develop the infrastructure for payment and settlement system in Qatar.According to a statement issued by QCB through its official Twitter handle, the objective of the project is to have an advanced payment and settlement system that keeps pace with the developments of the financial sector in the country by providing 24 hours a day payment and instant transfer between accounts.Aimed at achieving higher rates of financial inclusion, the QCB said, the project provides a unified address service for making payments through the phone, personal number, or account number.While it will service the central system to reduce fraud and money laundering, the project will ensure electronic bill payment service, authorisation and direct debit management services and credit services like buy now and pay later.Providing a scalable future payment system, the QCB said that the project is capable of supporting the population growth in Qatar resulting in an increase in the number of transactions for the next 10 years.With an aim to providing a system that allows interoperability between payments, whether, between a bank account or a digital wallet, the project will ensure ease of integration as it supports open applications to serve both FinTech companies and financial institutions.Integrating most of the payment systems into a unified system at QCB, the project will provide a control system that allows QCB to monitor all transactions and maintain the confidentiality of information.Organising and strengthening the management of liquidity and financial positions, and developing the processes of settlement and clearing of transactions executed on the accounts of participating financial institutions are also included in the project, the QCB said.Recently, the QCB announced that banks in Qatar are ready to officially launch the mobile payment service, Google Pay, after completing the necessary tests.