Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – The 12th SAARC Payment Council (SPC) meeting began in the capital Dhaka Sunday aiming to develop a smooth, safe and faster payment system in the South Asian region.
“Were now working towards commissioning of a National Payments Switch to provide a common platform for inter-bank electronic payments originating from different delivery channels including ATMs, POS terminals, internet, and mobile applications,” Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor Dr Atiur Rahman said while inaugurating the conference at Sonargaon Hotel in Dhaka.
The central bank chief also said: “Our next, medium term goal will be to put in place an RTGS for real time settlements over the medium term as high value transactions increase in number and volume.”
Central bank officials from the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) countries – Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and host Bangladesh are taking part at meeting.
SAARC Payments Initiative (SPI) is a regional payment group formed by member central banks/monetary authorities of the SAARC FINANCE Group to help each other to reform national payment and settlement systems (PSS) individually and regional PSS collectively.
BBN/SSR/SI-18Nov12-11:30 am (BST)
