International Finance
Finance

Bahrain government epayments increase by 29% in third quarter

Bahrain epayments
445, 000 financial transactions were carried out during the period which amount to $121.25 mn

The number of epayments for government services carried out in Bahrain increased by 29 percent in the third quarter year-on-year, according to Bahrain’s Q3 eGovernment Channels Performance Monitoring report.

The report revealed that around 445, 000 epayments were carried for government services between June and September 2019 in Bahrain, that amounted to a total of $121.45 million.

During the same period, visitors at the National portal and the main eGovernment channel also increased by almost 2 million.

Other significant details revealed by the reports are that visitors at the National Notification System (NotifyMe) increased by 19, 000, which is a four-fold increase. Similarly, the ‘Apply for a Government Job Vacancy’ service recorded approximately 37,000 visits, a two-fold increase.

Bahrain’s digital banking space is growing rapidly as the kingdom aims to establish itself as a regional fintech hub. Over the last couple of years, many traditional banks in Bahrain have launched their services digitally.
Last year, Arab Corporation Bank announced its decision to set up its own fully digital bank. Similarly, the Gulf International Bank (GIB) announced launched Bahrain’s first sharia-compliant digital bank.

During the same period, Bahrain’s Electronic Network For Financial Transactions (Benefit) also launched a national electronic wallet payment system -BenefitPay, to facilitate cashless transactions without the use of cash or cards.

All this led to the spike in epayments in Bahrain, not only in the third quarter but overall.

Earlier this year, the Central Bank of Bahrain issued new rules and regulations to regulate the fintech sector in the country.

With regard to this, Mr. Khalid Hamad, Executive Director of Banking Supervision told the media, “The new rules will enable specialised fintech firms planning to offer digital financial advice obtain a license to offer such services to investors.”

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