SAMA Governor, Dr. Ahmed A. AlKholifey, opened MEFTECH Conference and Exhibition today, Sunday, February 24, 2019. MEFTECH event is being held for the second year in Riyadh.
It is the largest event of its kind in the domain of banking and financial technology in the MENA region. The event is organized in collaboration with Saudi Payments "mada" and SADAD Payment. MEFTECH Conference brings together the most prominent experts in the financial technology industry to highlight industry trends, issues relating to mobile and smart device payments in the region, digital transformation in banking services, driving cashless payments in Saudi Arabia, artificial intelligence in the e-commerce industry, impact of blockchain on payments and the future of digital currencies.
Moreover, Dr. AlKholifey stressed that one of the most significant objectives SAMA seeks to achieve is to reduce dependence on cash through continuous development of national payment infrastructure with a view to supporting and facilitating transformation into an electronic payment environment, hence a cashless society. This goal is one of the objectives of the Financial Sector Development Program (FSDP), a Saudi Vision 2030 program.
He also indicated that effective payment systems are known for their capability to harmonize their work according to the principle of interoperability and standardization among all parties involved. He clarified that in order to achieve the objective of interoperability, SAMA has worked with the Saudi Payments "mada" over the past period to standardize smart device payments through the QR code technology, in a way that would enhance the levels of service, facilitating the service and making it available through a unified window serving all customers with e-wallets from different providers. The goal is to develop an integrated payment environment that allows all parties to benefit from this service in agreement with the open-loop payment environment. This means that merchants, individual customers and service providers will be linked together to complete payment using the same code regardless of the service provider.
Additionally, SAMA governor praised the great cooperation between concerned government sectors and all local banks during the previous period to achieve the FSDP's initiatives on digital transformation, entrepreneurship support and financial technology development to meet the aspirations of the wise leadership and the objectives of the Saudi Vision 2030. He also emphasized that this cooperation comes in line with the necessity of joint work for achieving common goals, the most important of which is to maintain the high status of our precious country.
For his part, Mr. Ziad Al-Yousef, Managing Director of Saudi Payments, expressed his pride of the launch of digital payments in Saudi Arabia. This step came as part of the ongoing development efforts and the country's endeavor to enhance the national economy, remove obstacles facing sales and purchases in accordance with the Saudi Vision and the objectives of the National Transformation Program, and provide the necessary support for payments sector, e-commerce and retail sector that are growing in Saudi Arabia.
Al-Yousef confirmed that SAMA and Saudi Payments seek to organize the e-payments sector in Saudi Arabia and maintain the required security standards. These efforts come in light of the anticipated spread of this technology among micro and small enterprises and shops and to open up the opportunity for new bodies to participate in the national payment ecosystem and provide innovative services for different types of costumers.
It is worth mentioning that SAMA announced a few days ago the launch of Apple Pay service in Saudi Arabia. The service allows users to make payments and purchases easily through iOS smart devices. The activation of the service increases payment options available to users in Saudi Arabia, providing more digital solutions facilitating payments and purchases and supporting the digital transformation.