News

In light of the increasing importance for promoting digital payments and the transition to digital financial services, the significant role played by digital wallet service providers has emerged to facilitate the adoption of innovative solutions for digital payments, enhancing financial inclusion and competition by providing new business models and use cases for digital financial services. Acknowledging this importance, the Arab Monetary Fund, through the Arab Regional Fintech Working Group, today issued guiding principles on “Best Practices and Recent Developments for Digital Wallet Providers”; as part of the AMF ongoing efforts to support digital financial transformation in the Arab countries, which plays a major role in enhancing financial inclusion and enabling innovative financial services.

Abu Dhabi, 4 June 2021: The Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) and Standard Chartered have reached an agreement for the Bank to serve as settlement bank for the Euro currency in Buna (the cross-border payment system owned by the AMF). Both institutions are currently engaged to address relevant final details and intend to work together in progressing ahead to an implementation phase.

The inclusion of the Euro as the fifth settlement currency, marks another major milestone with respect to establishing Buna as the payment system of choice across the Arab world and strengthening its position as an active member of the global payment sector.

Abu Dhabi, 3 June 2021: The Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) holds today, Thursday June 3, 2021, a workshop to elaborate on the value that Buna (the cross-border payment system owned by the AMF) is offering to its growing network of participant banks, by allowing and facilitating the usage of a diversified list of eligible Arab and international currencies in cross-border payments, through its centralized and multi-currency payment system.

Additionally, the workshop will further elaborate on the strategic role that Buna and its participant banks can jointly play, to leverage the volume of payments in Arab and international currencies and fuel the growth of trade and economic activities among Arab countries and between the Arab region and international markets.

The Arab Monetary Fund (AMF), and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) organize the "Fourth Working Party Meeting on Monetary Policy in the Arab Region," which is being held in virtual format on 31 May, 1 and 2 June 2021. The purpose of this event is to review recent global and regional economic and financial developments and to exchange views on their implications for the banking sector and monetary policies management in the Arab region. Also, the meeting will address technical issues related to the role of monetary policy on mitigating the impacts of Covid-19 and supporting economic recovery in coordination with fiscal and macroprudential policies, and it will include a special session on Central Banks Digital Currencies implications for monetary policy.

The Arab Monetary Fund (AMF), in collaboration with the Arab Regional Fintech Working Group members, published today a document titled “Open Banking Regulatory Principles”, as part of the AMF ongoing efforts to support digital financial transformation in the Arab countries, which plays a major role in growing the level of financial inclusion and contributing to the development of innovative financial services. The document highlights the benefits that open banking services may create for the financial and banking institutions customers, in terms of increased competition, lower costs, encouragement of innovation, and the generation of new business models and use cases.

Abu Dhabi, 06 May 2021: The Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) holds today, Thursday May 6, 2021, a workshop to elaborate on the compliance and information security standards that Buna (the cross-border payment system owned by the AMF) had put in place to adhere to the highest international requirements against terrorism and financial crime and protect the data of its participants.

During this workshop, Industry Experts representing Elucidate, Refinitiv, and DXC Technology and Buna executive team will share valuable insights on key topics related to compliance and information security.

The workshop will host more than 200 senior officials representing Arab and international central banks, along with various institutions from the financial, banking and payment sectors in the region and beyond, seeking for valuable information about Buna’s recent developments.

Today, on the Arab Day for Financial Inclusion, April 27, 2021, Arab Monetary Fund launched the Index of Modern Financial Technologies in the Arab Countries (FinxAr).  The index sheds light on the developments in the financial technology industry and digital financial services in the Arab countries during the period (2018-2020).  The launch of the index comes within the Arab Monetary Fund’s efforts to support Arab countries in promoting Fintech industry and digital financial transformation in a way that serves to enhance inclusiveness, financial stability and opportunities to achieve sustainable development.

The annual index aims to identify the efforts of Arab countries in enabling and promoting Fintech adoption.  It also contributes to setting a vision for the modern financial technology industry in the Arab countries and how to support the Fintech ecosystem, in order to help formulate national policies to strengthen the industry in Arab countries in the future, where they harness potential opportunities and mitigate related challenges.

The issue of promoting access to financing and financial services in the Arab countries is receiving great attention from the Council of Arab Central Banks and Monetary Authorities’ Governors, in recognition of the potential and great opportunities that can be achieved through enhancing financial inclusion to support inclusive and sustainable economic development, address unemployment challenges, and achieve social justice. There is no doubt that the current developments and the negative repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic have clearly highlighted the great importance of deploying Fintech for the purposes of financial inclusion, and the need to enhance digital financial services and familiarize users with them. The pandemic has increased the demand for digital financial services and made the need to accelerated digital transformation and improved digital financial services a critical issue in economic policies in the Arab region.

Abu Dhabi, 08 April 2021: The Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) holds today, Thursday April 8, 2021, a workshop to discuss Buna (the cross-border payment system owned by the AMF) consideration to expand its set of innovative solutions by supporting the clearing and settlement of securities, with the ambition of developing an integrated Arab Financial Market that is capable to increase the depth of issued financial instruments and provide easier access to Arab and international investors. Additionally, this workshop will mark one year of the Buna interactive events that reached a total number of 20 workshops, during which the Buna management team and diverse high-level guest speakers representing Arab and international financial institutions, elaborated on the value proposition of Buna and shared regular updates on its progress and plans.  

In line with its continuous efforts to support policymakers in the Arab region, the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) releases the April edition of the "Arab Economic Outlook" report for 2021, which includes projections for the Arab countries' macroeconomic performance in 2021 and 2022.

With the availability of anti-virus vaccines, hopes for a gradual recovery of the global economy have revived, as the world economy is expected to grow by 4.5 and 3.8 percent in 2021 and 2022, respectively, according to the average of international institutions’ estimates. On the other hand, the international oil markets are expected to witness an increase in demand for oil by 5.8 million barrels per day during 2021 to support the gradual global economic recovery. This will work in conjunction with the continuation of the "OPEC+" agreement to reduce the quantities of oil produced on supporting its prices in international markets.