Malé, Maldives – President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih on Tuesday ratified the National Payment System Bill (Act No.: 8/2021).
The legislation seeks to improve the existing national payment system, and govern its operations. It also provides ways to establish inter-operability amongst payment systems, clearing systems, installment systems and relevant bodies that provide similar services.
The legislation further prioritises maintaining the confidentiality of customers and outlines a framework for fulfilling this purpose. It aims to promote healthy competition amongst service providers.
The newly-ratified Act confers all powers of overseeing and regulating the National Payment System to the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA). MMA would also be responsible for enforcing the law. Parliament passed the National Payment System Bill on April 27, 2021, at the 35th sitting of the first session of this year.
MMA had signed an agreement with the subsidiary company of TietoEVRY, Tieto Latvia SIA to implement the Instant Payment System in Maldives on October 28, 2020. The Instant Payment System implementation agreement was signed under the Maldives Payment System Development Project of MMA. MMA stated that this has been a major national-level initiative to transform the payments landscape of the Maldives.
According to MMA, this project would result in the Maldivian payments infrastructure being developed and enhanced to the levels and standards set by major economies. The system is expected to go-live and be in use for domestic transactions by the last quarter of 2021 and the ratification of the new act provides the legislative foundation required.
With the successful implementation of the system, MMA has told that it would enable users to make and receive payments in real-time, irrespective of the island they live on or where they bank. This system would also facilitate the introduction of innovative payment solutions to the market by Payment Service Providers, connected via a single platform.
According to MMA the Instant Payment solution of TietoEVRY is scalable and simple to configure, allowing to easily expand the product range. MMA also added that the platform is based on micro-services architecture and enables the freedom to independently develop and deploy new services.
