Laos anticipates adopting Asean payment systems
Laos anticipates adopting Asean payment systems
The Lao banking sector is set to move closer to the ISO 20022 standard in order to access the Asean Payment Systems as well as improving the opportunities and challenges with other Asean members.
The ISO 20022 standard for Asean Payment Systems is a regional issue that was brought into discussion at a workshop in Vientiane yesterday, marking a significant step in the closer cooperation with the regional business and banking community.
One of the main goals of this workshop is to provide an overview of the Asean Central Banks' and Finance Ministers' objectives and implications on the integration of the region's payment systems.
It is also to set in place common expectations by presenting a roadmap to address the impact, implications and challenges of ISO 20022 as well as to understand and help identify gaps and challenges in individual countries.
At the same time each central bank will submit a stock-take of the technology of their payment system for Asean banks to be able to connect with. This stock-take will be compiled into a report to identify the gaps in an effort to address them.
In his opening remarks, Lao Bankers' Association (LBA) Vice President Mr Thavone Khemkham said the ISO 20022 standard for Asean Payment Systems Workshop was one of a series of workshops on the same topic being held in the region in 2014.
“There is an example of the economic benefits of adopting this standard which can be seen in the setup of the Single Euro Payment Area,” he said.
He also explained that the standard is not just limited to low value transactions; it will also be applicable in the new version of the European Union's large value payment system with full adoption in 2017.
“Although the ISO 20022 standard has been much discussed for many years, it still attracts great attention and interest from workshop participants here in Laos as well as in the Asean business and banking community,” Mr Thavone said.
According to Mr Thavone, the ISO 20022 standard has been designed to harmonise the world's financial communications through a single and common language that can be used and constantly understood across business domains, communication networks as well as financial market infrastructure.
Vice Governor of the Bank of the Lao PDR (BOL) Mr Sonexay Sithphaxay also said “ISO 20022 is a financial message standard, which serves the needs of customers for payment services.”
He also noted that many countries across the world have declared the acceptance of certain ISO 20022 messages in their payment services.
“BOL has also made an attempt to support the large and low value payment systems to be compliant with ISO 20022,” Mr Sonexay said, adding that local payment service providers, operators and customers will need to take a much longer time to understand the operating systems.
At the workshop, a number of invi ted key speakers, international experts and trainers were present to provide un derstanding for participants.
The workshop was co-organised by the Committee on Cooperation on Finance, Trade and Investment (COFIT) and the Lao Bankers' Association (LBA).
Representatives from the Working Committee on Payment and Settlement System, Bangkok Bank, Electronic Transactions Development Agency, United Overseas Bank Group and Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication were present at the workshop.
vientiane times
