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…

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…

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,…

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,…

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.

In Africa, the development of Instant and Inclusive Payment Systems (IIPS) and the use of open-source software like Mojaloop offer hopes of speeding up the onboarding of more than 350 million financially excluded adults on the continent.

I see five macrotrends, driven by a combination of consumer preference, technology, and regulation, that will affect the future of payments and define how payments will look in the next couple of years.

By leveraging emerging technologies, and availing infrastructure to seamlessly integrate with those technologies both at a bi-currency level (country-to-country) and at a multi-CBDC level or consortium of multiple countries, a foundation for a truly global…

The past decade has been a game-changer for Jordan's financial ecosystem, especially in terms of digital financial services and financial technology. In the first half of the decade, the country saw major developments in digital infrastructure, legislative…

In part two of our interview with Ledia Bregu, Director of Payment Systems, Accounting and Finance Department for the Bank of Albania (BoA), the conversation turned to AIPS EURO, a new payments infrastructure launched in 2022, Albania’s EU membership…