BOL, IFC support new banking standard in the Mekong region
BOL, IFC support new banking standard in the Mekong region
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, is helping commercial banks in Laos and other Mekong countries to streamline transactions through an improved payment system.
The country's Payments, Remittances and Securities Settlement System will deliver safer, more efficient, cheaper and innovative payment methods to customers, especially benefiting small and medium d enterpises in rural areas.
The updated system will contribute to overall financial stability and allow for widespread access to non-cash payments.
The Bank of the Lao PDR and the IFC are hosting a two-day meeting from November 3-4 for banks in the Mekong region to adopt ISO 20022, a new ISO standard that promises to unify financial entities with a common language.
The meeting was co-chaired by Head of the IFC Office in Vientiane, MrPhongsavanhPhomkong, and Deputy Director General of the Information and Technology Department of the Bank of the Lao PDR, MrKhaikeoLuangsivilay.
The adoption of the ISO 20022 standard is quite important for the modernisation of the financial sector in the region as it allows an increased level of efficiency for the communication and exchange of financial transactions, MrKhaikeo said.
The Bank of the Lao PDR is undertaking a holistic development of the national paymen t system and will continue working in this area to modernise the sector and increase the level of financial stability and inclusion.
During the workshop attendees will discuss the features of the ISO 20022 standard and share industry feedback within a global context.
Among the 100-plus expected participants are representatives from the Bundesbank, the Reserve Bank of India, SWIFT, the central banks of Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar and local operators.
This is the first time we are offerin g the region's central banks and commercial entities a list of concrete step-by-step guidelines for implementing new standards complying with Asean, MrPhongsavanh said.
In partnership with Switzerland's State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, the workshop is delivered by the World Bank Group Finance and Markets Global Practice, which aims to help countries build deep, diversified, inclusive, efficient and stable financial systems essential to promoting economic growth and reducing poverty and increasing shared prosperity.
The IFC is the largest global development institute focused on the private sector in emerging markets. Working with 2,000 businesses worldwide, it uses its six decades of experience to create opportunity where it's needed most.
In fiscal year 2016, the IFC's long-term investments in developing countries rose to nearly US$19 billion, leveraging its capital, expertise and influence to help the private sector end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity.
