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Work well underway in review of Nat’l Payment System – Central Bank
Work regarding the review of Guyana’s National Payment System is well underway. This is according to Central Bank Governor, Dr. Gobind Ganga.
Central Bank, Dr. Gobind Ganga
In keeping with its mandate to ensure that there is a safe, sound and efficient payment system, Dr. Ganga said that the Bank of Guyana has sought the assistance of the World Bank to modernize the country’s National Payment System. He said that the assistance will cover the development of a National Payment System Strategy, the Bank’s oversight function, drafting payment system legislation to cover current and future payment services, and the installation of infrastructure necessary for real-time settlement.
In this regard, the Central Bank Head said, “Work is well underway in these areas with the completion of a draft strategy and a draft payment system act.”
Additionally, a World Bank IT expert is to conduct an assessment of the current payment system infrastructure, taking into consideration work already completed to exchange cheque images and the progress made in electronic funds transfer.
Upon completion of the Bank of Guyana / World Bank project, the Banking System will have the capability of settling transactions across banks in real time.
Dr. Ganga said it is expected that transaction cost will fall, resulting in significant savings for the public and private sectors. In the meantime, the Bank of Guyana continues to monitor payment services.
In this regard, the Bank of Guyana Governor said that the number of Mobile Money accounts at the end of December 2016 increased by 104.2 percent from 12,067 (9,327 inactive and 2,740 inactive) to 24,638 (13,306 inactive and 11,332 active) and the value of payments increased by 76.9 percent from $134 million to $237.1 million for that same period. The number of merchants accepting mobile money payments also increased from 22 (19 inactive and 3 active) to 33 (29 inactive and 4 active).
According to Central Bank, the Mobile Money wallet has been increased from the initial $60,000 to $110,000 as at the end of 2016.
Also in 2016, the use of the electronic switch continued to grow, with five commercial banks participating in the electronic switch which will result in the acceptance of any local debit card at any ATM or Point-of-Sale.
Dr. Ganga pointed out that the value of transactions settled through the switch increased from $1,041 million at the end of December 2015 to $1,192 million at the end of December 2016.
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