Arab Monetary Fund: We are working with Iraq to build national financial strategies

Posted on[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] by [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

[size=52]Arab Monetary Fund: We are working with Iraq to build national financial strategies[/size]

[size=45]The Director General and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Arab Monetary Fund, Fahad bin Mohammed Ali Al-Turki, stressed working with Iraq to build national financial strategies through well-known and technical programs.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Turki said in a speech during the Electronic Payments Conference towards Financial Stability in Iraq: “The different regulatory capabilities played a fundamental role in creating the digital regulatory environment to encourage banks and financial institutions to employ modern technologies to transform towards digital transformation and banking services, enhance their efficiency and reduce risks, including cybercrimes.”[/size]
[size=45]He added: “In this area, the regulating legislation, electronic financial transfers, digital financial consumer protection, and anti-money laundering requirements must achieve a balance between stimulating digital transformation on the one hand and managing and reducing risks on the other.”[/size]
[size=45]He continued: “The good design of payment systems and ensuring environmental control between them and their interconnection with other systems such as credit systems will enhance the efficiency of digital transformation and opportunities for economic growth,” indicating that “digital transformation is a fundamental factor in reshaping the banking sector in the Arab region.”[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out that “governments and central banks can play a role in supporting digital transformation, by creating digital regulation. This is evident from investing in digital infrastructure and addressing cybersecurity challenges, which helps create an environment that enhances innovation and growth in the banking sector.”[/size]
[size=45]“What is heartening is what we heard from the Governor of the Central Bank regarding working on many of these aspects, which is that having a tight regulatory framework is of paramount importance to enhance digital innovation, as governments should focus on equal opportunities and ensuring that regulations are consistent to reduce risks,” he said.[/size]
[size=45]He explained that “investing in digital infrastructure would stimulate digital banking services that help enhance access to banking services and products for the population using the financial system and non-using the financial system,” adding: “The Arab region has renewed modern financial technology companies in its countries for increased investments, the number of which reached 1,500 companies by the end of the first half of 2024, compared to less than 300 companies four years ago in financial activities worldwide and the region.”[/size]
[size=45]He added that “important global statistics on modern financial technologies provide huge opportunities for investment in this sector, as total investments in modern financial technologies in 2023 amounted to about 115 billion US dollars, and investment in this sector is expected to continue to grow steadily until it reaches 325 billion dollars by 2026. According to the International Finance Report, the Arab region has faced varying attacks over the past four years, in addition to the digital gap.”[/size]
[size=45]He added: “There is still a digital gap between developing and developed countries, which limits the spread of digital payments in some regions, in addition to the reliance on technology without creating alternative systems, which makes digital payments vulnerable to disruption in the event of any technical problems.”[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out that “with the increase in the number of financial transactions and their expansion, the use of artificial intelligence emerges in this context, as it can contribute in the field of digital expansion to revealing huge amounts of data in a short time and searching and detecting abnormal patterns that may indicate fraud operations.” He explained that “this is done using machine learning techniques that learn from previous data and accurately and quickly identify suspicious natural and abnormal patterns. It also helps monitor and analyze the behavior of users of financial services to ensure normal payment patterns. If any unusual activity is detected, the system can send immediate alerts to verify the validity of transactions. In addition, artificial intelligence techniques are used to strengthen digital identity applications such as voice recognition to verify the user’s identity before completing financial transactions, which increases the level of security. Understanding the full objects of the number and financial technologies requires continued attention to many aspects.”[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out that “the Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq mentioned many things, most notably investment in infrastructure represented by the extensive use of mobile phones, especially in remote areas, and the development of agency networks that meet the need of individuals to carry out withdrawal and deposit operations at the local and regional levels, and the distribution of the scope of digital identity, including electronic fingerprint systems, and the expansion of open application program interfaces, which are available to the public so that developers can access software that represents property rights so that new applications can communicate and interact with each other.”[/size]
[size=45]He continued: “Developing legal and regulatory frameworks that allow users of financial services to regulate their use and ensure a competitive environment, taking into account the importance of whether and how non-banking institutions should be allowed to access the national credit infrastructure and issue electronic money, and focusing on developing regulatory and supervisory capabilities to reduce risks and enhance financial and digital awareness and education.”[/size]
[size=45]He stated that “modern financial technologies play a major role in achieving the goals of financial inclusion. In recent years, cooperation between institutions and parties in the financial sector has resulted in sponsorship and encouragement from Arab central banks to achieve real progress in the levels of financial inclusion in the Arab region, as central banks, financial service providers and government agencies have benefited from financial technologies to expand the scope of access to financial services for those not dealing with the banking sector, according to the database of the global Tex Index and the World Bank.”[/size]
[size=45]He stressed that “there is a significant increase in the adoption of digital financial services in the Arab region, especially after the Corona pandemic, as the percentage of adults compared to what it was in 2017, which was 30%, was reinforced by the spread of mobile phone services, as the task of distributing access to digital services in rural areas was represented,” adding that “the praise and cooperation between the Arab Monetary Fund and the Central Bank, whether through the active participation of the bank’s cadres in the work of the committees according to the work emanating from the Council of Governors of Arab Central Banks or through the famous and technical programs with the Central Bank of Iraq, which include contributing to building national strategies for financial contribution.”[/size]
[size=45][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]