KTFA:

Samson:  Indonesia's central bank speeds up digital currency issuance

26th November, 2021

Indonesia's central bank governor, Piri Wargio, said the bank will speed up the process of issuing the digital Indonesian rupiah, without providing a time frame for that, German news agency DPA reported.

Bloomberg Agency reported that Bank Indonesia plans to present the design of the idea next year, and is coordinating with 7 central banks to choose a suitable platform for this, either through blockchain, distributed balancing technology, or stablecoins.

Bank Indonesia is integrating the financing infrastructure with the money market, to support the digital currency plan.

The central bank prohibits financial institutions with Bank Indonesia permits from accepting cryptocurrencies as a means of payment, and has deployed supervisors to monitor their activities.LINK

Samson:  New confirmation of communications: We do not deal in dollars

11/26/2021 15:46:02

 The Ministry of Communications confirmed that it does not deal in US dollars in providing its own services.

The ministry's spokesman, Raad al-Mashhadani, told {Euphrates News}, "The Ministry of Communications is sovereign. It does not deal in dollars at all, but in Iraqi dinars, and this prompted us to provide a purely Iraqi service, which is (Viber to Home) in Iraqi dinars."

And he indicated that "the prices of calls for this service amounted from a landline fiber to the last 5 Iraqi dinars, and from a landline fiber to the last provinces, it is 10 dinars, and from my landline to a mobile phone is 50 dinars per minute," stressing that "these prices are supported by the Ministry of Communications."   LINK

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Samson:  Zwipe, Areeba pilot Biometric Payment Cards in Iraq

23rd November, 2021

Norwegian biometric authentication firm Zwipe is partnering with Areeba to pilot biometric payment cards based on Zwipe Pay ONE in Lebanon and Iraq.

According to a press release from Zwipe, these pilots reflect a strong and growing demand from issuers and processors across the region for next-generation contactless payment cards.

In these pilots, the biometric payment cards will be built on the Zwipe Pay ONE platform and delivered by Inkript, one of the leading EMV Card Manufacturers in the Middle East, which already provides cards to areeba and many issuers in the region.  LINK

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Samson:  Central Governor: Saudi Arabia will allow more digital banks

25th November, 2021

The Governor of the Saudi Central Bank, Fahd Al-Mubarak, said today, Thursday, at a financial forum in Riyadh, that the Kingdom will grant operating licenses to more digital banks.

This year, the Kingdom issued licenses for its first digital banks, STC Bank and the Saudi Digital Bank.

Saudi Arabia is seeking to come up with a low-cost digital central bank that simulates digital operations that would have a hedge of the real liquidity held in central banks, according to previous statements by Al-Mubarak.

Al-Mubarak indicated that some countries have started experimenting with these systems, and the Kingdom’s experience has a cross-digital currency project with the UAE, and there is a large project for financial technology in Saudi Arabia.

The governor of "Sama" explained that there is a unified currency for the clearing system between banks in the region, and in the Gulf region there is a currency exchange policy that is very similar to digital transactions and depends a lot on the dollar, and therefore "we have the ability more than any other region to move to digital currency at the level of the region."

Al-Mubarak said that we have experience with other partners in digital currencies for central banks, stressing that digital currencies will be within the banking system. He explained that the Kingdom now has about 32 financial technology companies operating in different sectors, whether financial payments, insurance or other activities, and we have an open banking program.   LINK