Qatar Central Bank revealed the increase and growth in the volume and value of electronic payment operations and the number of point-of-sale devices in the country. The Central Bank affirmed that the Qatar Central Bank’s initiatives to reduce fees for electronic payment operations and fees for installing and activating POS devices contributed to the growth of the volume and value of electronic payment operations and the number of POS devices in the country.
And Qatar Central published, in a tweet on its official account on the social networking site Twitter, the statistics of the volume and value of electronic payment operations and the number of point-of-sale devices during the month of June 2023, and compared them to the same month in 2022.
The volume of POS operations
The annual growth rate in the volume of electronic payment transactions amounted to (30%) since the date of the Qatar Central Bank’s decision to reduce fees, amounting to 31.06 million June 2023 compared to 23.82 million June 2022.
Point of sale hardware operations
The annual growth rate in the value of electronic payment transactions reached (14%) since the date of the Qatar Central Bank’s decision to reduce fees, reaching 7.54 billion riyals in June 2023 compared to 6.59 billion riyals in June 2022.
The number of POS devices
The annual growth rate in the number of point-of-sale devices (29%) since the date the Qatar Central Bank issued its decision to reduce fees reached 66,775 devices until June 2023 compared to 51,874 devices until June 2022.
The Qatar Central Bank had announced the start of developing the infrastructure for payment and settlement systems, and the project provides new services that include: instant transfers between accounts.. a unified address service for making payments via phone, personal number, or account number.. a central system service to reduce fraud and money laundering.. electronic bill payment service, authorization management services and direct debit. The project also provides new services, including: Credit services (buy now and pay later). And to provide a scalable future payment system capable of supporting population growth in the State of Qatar and increasing the number of transactions for the next 10 years.
And the possibility of interoperability to provide a system that allows interoperability between payment operations, whether between a bank account or an electronic wallet. Providing instant payment and transfer services 24 hours a day.
Monitor all transactions
The project also provides services that include: ease of integration, as it supports open applications to serve both financial technology companies and financial institutions, and the provision of a control system that allows the Qatar Central Bank to monitor all transactions and maintain the confidentiality of information. In addition to merging most of the payment systems into a unified system at the Qatar Central Bank. Organizing and strengthening the management of liquidity and financial centers and developing settlement and clearing operations for the transactions executed on the accounts of the participating financial institutions.
The Qatar Central Bank affirms that the Qatar Mobile Payment System (QMP) has achieved many advantages, the most important of which is the expansion of payment methods and electronic transfers in the country, in addition to achieving financial inclusion by providing service to all segments of society, including citizens, residents and visitors to the country. In addition to instant money transfers and payments around the clock,
And instant transfers to individuals through a phone number or an alias, and facilitating electronic payment operations for merchants through the QR Code.
The central clarified that the service is available to all segments of society, including citizens, residents, and visitors, which ensures financial inclusion, through registration and creation of a wallet remotely, registration without a minimum balance, and reducing dependence on cash in addition to paying low commissions. He added that the Qatar Mobile Payment System (QMP) is the first interoperable national network for payment services and instant transfers via mobile phone at the Qatar Central Bank, as it works to connect all licensed mobile payment service providers in the country.
The system provides a new and secure method for instant electronic payment, allowing payment services and instant money transfers via mobile phones around the clock through electronic wallets.
E-wallets are registered on the system for the purpose of exchanging financial movements between e-wallets through payment service providers licensed in the country. Transfers from the wallet to bank accounts and vice versa can also be made for the same customer who owns the wallet. This would contribute to reducing dealing with paper and metal cash and the risks that follow such as losing it, damage and others.
