In Conversation with Zeynel Abidin Avcı and Bilgehan Kürsad Öz of the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye

The Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT) is playing a catalytic role in the development of a “robust and innovative payment landscape,” most notably with the establishment in 2021 of an instant payment system and, more recently, its work on…

AfricaNenda: Digital Payment Access is Steadily Increasing. What Barriers Remain?

The instant payment ecosystem in Africa continues to show increased dynamism, as the number of instant payment systems (IPS) expands and more transactions run through them, as documented in the State of Inclusive Instant Payment Systems in Africa 2023…

Danmarks Nationalbank: Future-Proofing the Danish Payments Infrastructure

The settlement of the Danish krone (DKK) is scheduled to migrate to the European payment and securities settlement platform TARGET Services in 2025. The Danish krone will be the first non-euro currency to be connected to all TARGET Services for payments…

Central Bank of Iceland's Journey in Instant Payments and Cannibalization of RTGS Payments

Iceland's journey in the realm of instant payments is historic, dating back to 2002 with the initiation of the Central Bank of Iceland's large value payment system, SG, followed by the introduction of the instant payment system, JK, in 2003. These systems,…

Al Etihad Payments: Aani Instant Payments Platform - Redefining UAE's Financial Landscape

The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates is actively pursuing digital innovation through the Financial Infrastructure Transformation (FIT) Programme. Among other key objectives, the FIT Programme focusses on driving financial inclusion, promoting…

ProgressSoft: Regulatory Strategies for a Resilient Instant Payment Landscape

The pace of evolution in instant payments, also known as real-time or fast payments, has been phenomenal, especially in emerging economies, and has acted as a catalyst to kickstart economic activities. Regulators and governments worldwide are striving…

Towards Digitalising Payment Systems for Financial Inclusion in South Africa

South Africa is considered by many to be a dual economy where a large percentage of the population live in poor conditions in rural areas, and another significantly large percentage are wealthy and live in urban areas. Many of the people that live in…

Crunchfish: Enabling Offline Payments in an Online World — Practical Guides to Offline Payment

Despite all the recent attention on the topic of offline payments, there remains an unclear understanding in the market around the practical design choices and trade-offs for offline real-time payments and CBDCs. Crunchfish, a pioneer for offline payments,…

Central Bank of Paraguay: Instant Payments in Paraguay

On May 23, 2022, the Central Bank of Paraguay (BCP) implemented the first phase of the Paraguayan Instant Payment System (SPI). This first phase consisted of implementing electronic fund transfers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (24x7). For end customers,…

World Bank: Fast Payments and the Role of Central Banks

Fast payments are an important layer in digital public infrastructures — i.e., foundational systems back boning the provision of essential functions and services in a modern society — with the potential to drive economic growth and sustainable development.