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Abu Dhabi 26 August 2021: The Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) and Visa, announced today the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Under the terms of this MoU, Visa and Buna (The Regional Payment Platform owned by the AMF), will set the foundation for mutual beneficial interoperability and a solid partnership that aims to enable additional rails of money transfer across the two systems, supporting the growth and efficiency of cross-border payments between the Arab region and the rest of the world.

Buna and Visa will collaborate to offer their network of participants and member banks respectively, a quick, efficient, cost effective and secure channels to execute cross-border payments in Arab and International currencies, enabling diversified pay out options.

Abu Dhabi, 2 September 2021: The Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) holds today, Thursday September 2, 2021, a workshop to explore and discuss the recent trends related to the cross-border payment industry and elaborate on Buna’s (the cross-border payment system owned by the AMF) opportunity to act as a bridge with major trade partners in Asia.

During this workshop, high level guest speakers representing, Cross-border Interbank Payment System (CIPS) which is linked to the People’s Bank of China, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) supervised by the Reserve Bank of India, and the State Bank of Pakistan, will elaborate on the strategic role that Buna is capable to play as a payment gateway and a bridge to link with the Asian markets, and support the growth of commercial and investment activities with trade partners in Asia.   

Within the framework of the Arab Monetary Fund’s eagerness to enhance the digital financial literacy in the Arab countries, and its belief in the importance of having robust reference for the terminologies of the financial technology industry, considering the significant role that the financial innovation plays in the future of financial and banking services, the Arab Monetary Fund, within the activities of the Arab Regional Fintech Working Group, has issued the second edition of the "Fintech Glossary”.

  The glossary contains (14) chapters covering all the terms of financial technology, which contributes to enhancing the awareness of the financial innovations’ concepts and terminologies.

Banca d’Italia and the Arab Regional Payments Clearing and Settlement Organization (ARPCSO) announced today the successful completion of a joint experiment aimed at linking for the first time the instant payment settlement platforms with multi-currency features (TIPS and BUNA) operated by the two organizations. The results of the experiment have been presented at an international webinar held under the auspices of the Italian Presidency of the G20 on 27-28 September.

The experiment simulated the payment of €1 by a current account holder of Banca Intesa Sanpaolo in favour of a customer of Jordan Ahli Bank, who received the money in Jordanian dinars (JOD). During the experiment, a number of cross-currency transactions were settled in both TIPS and Buna IPS, by debiting Intesa Sanpaolo’s TIPS account in EUR and crediting Jordan Ahli’s JOD account in BUNA. The average end-to-end response time for these transactions was approximately 15 seconds.

The Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) is keen to support the efforts of its member countries to implement economic, financial and structural reforms, in face of various challenges, through a number of means, including financing the needs of the balance of payments and public budgets, and financing trade through its affiliate the Arab Trade Financing Program, in addition to its role in promoting policy dialogue and consultation on economic, financial and development issues via its various forums and activities, providing technical advice to member countries in the field of economic, fiscal and financial policies, and providing training for government officials in member countries through its Institute for Training and Capacity Building.

The Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) is keen to support the efforts of its member countries to implement economic, financial and structural reforms, in face of various challenges, through a number of means, including financing the needs of the balance of payments and public budgets, and financing trade through its affiliate the Arab Trade Financing Program, in addition to its role in promoting policy dialogue and consultation on economic, financial and development issues via its various forums and activities, providing technical advice to member countries in the field of economic, fiscal and financial policies, and providing training for government officials in member countries through its Institute for Training and Capacity Building.

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Abu Dhabi, 14 October 2021: The Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) holds today, Thursday October 14, 2021, a workshop to elaborate on Buna’s (the cross-border payment system owned by the AMF) different initiatives to push the frontiers of cross-border payments and improve interoperability models in collaboration with operators of payment networks and market infrastructures.

During this workshop, guest speakers representing, the Bank of Italy, Visa and the Pan African Payment and Settlement system (PAPSS) will share their different experiences with Buna, and their views on the added value that strategic framework of cooperation between payment systems can bring to enhance cross-border payments across the globe.

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

The Ministers of Finance of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the State of Kuwait, and the Kingdom of Bahrain met on October 19, 2021 to discuss the latest developments regarding Bahrain’s Fiscal Balance Program in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Arab Monetary Fund attended the meeting as an advisory body providing assessment of the program achievements. They reviewed the latest developments on the program's initiatives in light of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the implementation of the program, with a view to achieve a fiscal balance between government revenues and expenditures in the year 2024.

The ministers welcomed the efforts made by the government of Bahrain in implementing the Fiscal Balance Program, and the progress made by the government despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Ministers affirmed their support to the Kingdom of Bahrain’s efforts in pursuing further reforms to enhance fiscal stability and strengthen sustainable economic growth.

The Arab Monetary Fund publishes “Central Bank Background Papers on Monetary Policy Frameworks in the Arab Countries”. Papers in this volume were prepared for the AMF-BIS Fourth Working Party Meeting on Monetary Policy in the Arab Region organized by the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) and Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in a virtual format on 31 May, 1, 2 June 2021.

The purpose of this event was 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 addressed some technical issues related to the role of monetary policy in mitigating the impacts of Covid-19 and supporting economic recovery in coordination with fiscal and macroprudential policies, and it included a special session on Central Banks Digital Currencies implications for monetary policy.