The Bank of Papua New Guinea (BPNG) signed a contract with the Swiss company, BPC Banking Technologies, for the supply and installation of a national card and mobile payments switch.
The contract signing is the first step toward implementing the Retail Electronic Payments System (REPS), an initiative launched by BPNG in late 2015 as the next phase in the development of the National Payment System (NPS) and its drive for Financial Inclusion in PNG.
REPS follows on from the successful implementation of the KATS inter-bank electronic payment system which has been fully operational since February 2015.
In a statement, BPNG says: “KATS has dramatically shortened cheque clearing times and provides electronic direct credits between PNG bank accounts. By enabling full electronic payments, KATS has greatly improved financial services offered by banks to their customers.
“It has provided the PNG economy with a secure, efficient and reliable domestic payment system and set a solid foundation for future innovation in payments technology, including growth opportunities for Fintech digital financial services.”
REPS will allow microfinance companies and microbanks, savings and loans societies and other smaller financial institutions entry into the NPS to offer plastic card and mobile payment services to their customers. This is so that more people and businesses will have access to financial services throughout PNG, particularly among the rural areas.
The new REPS switch, SmartVista from BPC, will be connected to all providers of electronic card and mobile phone payment services in PNG. It will let a customer of any financial institution do business with a customer of any other financial institution, 24 hours a day, using cards, mobile phones, internet banking and any other payment instruments which may become available in the future.
REPS and KATS together represent a complete modernisation of the PNG’s NPS that will deliver efficiency, security and convenience in payments that is beneficial to the economy and supporting the Government’s medium term goals.
Rajan S. Narayan, managing director of BPC Banking Technologies, Asia Pacific, says: “Following extensive evaluation by BPNG, we are pleased to be able to demonstrate our capabilities with the SmartVista suite of products in meeting the requirements to enable financial inclusion and central payments switching in Papua New Guinea.
“BPC brings wide-ranging experience from similar implementations in approximately 15 countries globally. This significantly important project in Papua New Guinea commits BPC to consolidate our presence and be part of the digital transformation journey of financial institutions in the Pacific.”
BPC Banking Technologies is a global leader in payments solutions with over 190 clients in 70 countries globally. It is the architect and developer of SmartVista – the complete e-payments solution delivering high performance authorisation switching and routing, ATM and POS management, card management, advanced fraud prevention, loyalty program management, card personalisation and production, billing and merchant management, microfinance, integrated internet and mobile banking.
For more information, visit the Company's website at www.bpcbt.com