Qatar Central Bank (QCB) has announced that it will implement a National Payment Gateway using the 'PayONE' secure online payment solution.
The solution, provided by BusinessONE, a division of the STS Group, is based on an electronic wallet system that will enable debit and credit card holders, as well as bank-account owners, to make online payments for e-Commerce and e-Government transactions, safely and in real-time. STS-BusinessONE is a leading regional provider of end-to-end
electronic payment and transaction technology solutions to banks and financial institutions.
This was announced at a press conference held Wednesday evening at the Fairmont Hotel, Dubai. The conference was addressed by Hashim Al-Sada, Director, System Development and Planning Department, Qatar Central Bank and Amjad Rahhal, Chief Operations Officer, STS-BusinessONE.
The implementation of the PayONE solution will enable Qatar Central Bank to sustain its leadership position as the leading payment facilitator in Qatar. Based on IBM's Websphere Products, PayONE is one of the few e-payment
solutions to offer customers the benefit of making both card-based as well as direct account-to-account electronic fund transfer.
Commenting on the implementation of PayOne and the National Payment Gateway, Hashim Al-Sada, Director, System Development and Planning Department, Qatar Central Bank stated, "Qatar boasts one of the strongest economies in the
Middle East region, with per capita income figures of nearly US$ 29,948 in 2002; one of the highest in the world. With increased IT penetration, the number of e-Government and e-Commerce transactions conducted in Qatar has risen. By implementing a National Payment Gateway in Qatar, we are
effectively offering citizens increased options to pay for their online purchases and e-government transactions using many different payment methods available in their secured e-Wallet. We are confident that this will have a multiplier effect on Qatar's e-business economy as well as boost the
popularity of the government's e-services among citizens."
"We selected BusinessONE's PayONE e-payment solution as it offers us the flexibility and scalability to significantly manage electronic payment processing in Qatar. PayONE also offers increased security; it is one of the few e-payment solutions to enable debit card processing. Lastly, the solution conducts transaction in real-time, thus decreasing process time," he stated.
"In our position as the central payment facilitator for all business transactions, between Qatari merchants, banks and end-users, we can now offer our customers safer, quicker options to conduct transactions over the Internet. We have
already implemented e-STP (straight through processing) over the RTGS (real time gross settlement) system for all Qatari banks. With the implementation of PayONE in the National Payment Gateway, we are now equipped to widen
this service to Qatari citizens and merchants as well," continued Al-Sada. (menareport.com)
© 2004 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
