Buna: The Right Vision That is Being Delivered at the Right Time

From Vision to Reality: Buna is Born

The contribution of payment systems to financial stability and financial inclusion has been underscored throughout several studies and reports. If more concrete evidence was needed, one cannot deny the tangible impact of payment systems in containing the economic crisis in 2008, nor can one deny their weight in supporting the subsequent economic recovery, in particular as a key vehicle transmitting the policies implemented by central banks to achieve their mission.

Besides delivering a concrete solution to the growing demand of citizens for transnational payments around the globe, cross-border payment systems provide a solid foundation for economic integration at the regional level. They deliver an indispensable tool to support exchanges, partnerships and collaboration between different countries. In doing so, they contribute to further economic growth and stability.

When crypto assets continued to emerge in the second half of 2019, central bankers and policy makers questioned the ability of such instruments to provide the safe, stable and open solution that citizens were looking for. Their assessment indicated that crypto assets take advantage of the lack of cross-border payment systems to thrive and proliferate.

Buna, the cross-border and multi-currency payment system, came to fruition on the 23^rd of February 2020 as a culmination of an implementation program launched in 2018 that was preceded by a thorough feasibility study initiated in 2016. In fact, Buna’s vision emerged back in 2010 when the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) and the Council of Arab Central Banks and Monetary Authorities Governors found great interest in a cross-border payment system to support further economic integration between Arab economies and expand trade and investment activities between these countries and with the rest of the world.

The vision of Buna started at a time where no one would have predicted that ... Read more in the CBPN Members' Library with your annual subscription.

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