The National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) has signed two separate Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) to extend the collaboration in the area of financial innovation and payment systems with the Central Bank of Solomon Islands (CBSI) and the Reserve Bank of Fiji.
The signing ceremony took place in Phnom Penh on Feb. 23 in the presence of H.E. Chea Chanto, NBC Governor, H.E. Luke Forau, CBSI Governor, and Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of Fiji, H.E. Esala Masitabua.
H.E. Chea Chanto said that the MoU is a milestone for the three central banks to achieve another level of financial cooperation by further leveraging the technology to benefit the population in the three countries.
“The main purpose of this MoU is to focus on the cooperation in developing the financial innovation and payment system, and to share related information on innovation and digital payments in financial services for our respective markets and provide a platform for technical cooperation to stimulate the aforementioned collaboration through the exchange of experiences and knowledge,” he said.
H.E. Luke Forau, Governor of CBSI, said that the Solomon Islands is very keen to collaborate with the NBC and to learn from Cambodia’s experiences in leveraging technology to benefit the people.
“Cambodia has given us an opportunity to learn from its leadership in the use of technology and in addition to that has committed through the MoU to cooperate in developing payment systems that facilitate ordinary people to make payments and receive funds with minimal delays,” H.E. Luke Forau underlined.
H.E. Esala Masitabua, Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of Fiji, said that Fiji was extremely grateful to the NBC for its willingness to share its experiences and knowledge in the use of technology in developing its payments system.
“The MoU provides a platform for free sharing of information and collaboration that will assist Fiji’s journey in the development of a modern, efficient, and reliable digital payment system to support the needs of the people of Fiji. This collaboration will further support the ongoing national payments reforms and allow Fiji to leapfrog in its journey in the use of technology to support finance sector development,” H.E. Esala Masitabua said.
Bakong, a payment system infrastructure, is a project that explores the use of an alternative technology platform to address the lack of interconnectivity and interoperability, and attain efficiencies within the current payment system.
It is also aimed at promoting financial inclusion and the use of Khmer Riel. Currently, there are 70 members participating in the Bakong system, amongst them are 46 members that are currently under development and 24 members are in technical integration.
Source: Agency Kampuchea Press