Qatar Central Bank has announced it will launch a new instant payment service in March as it looks to further enhance the country’s digital payment system.
QCB said the ‘Fawran’ service is being introduced in line with the Third Financial Sector Strategy and as part of efforts to keep up with the latest developments in payments systems and electronic fund transfer. Among the key benefits, users of the service will no longer have to use an IBAN to carry out transactions and will instead be able to use alternative identifiers such a mobile number.
Fawran, an Arabic word for instant or immediately, will have around the clock access and can be used by citizens and residents to execute instant money transfers between themselves, QCB said.
Banks and authorities around the region are continuing to upgrade and modernise their digital payment systems. In January, Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) announced that it was upgrading its mobile app with an e-commerce platform in an effort to move beyond just banking.
More recently, Bahrain-based stc pay partnered with the Electricity and Water Authority (EWA) to launch a new in-app payment feature for utility bills. The deal means that residents of Bahrain who are stc pay subscribers no longer need to enter card details to settle their EWA bills but can instead pay directly through a mobiel wallet application.
