Qatar Central Bank has embarked on digital payments journey as it announced licenses for digital payment services to both Vodafone Qatar and Ooredoo.
The announcement was made on twitter. The digital payment service licenses were offered to iPay digital payment offering from Vodafone Qatar and Ooredoo Money by Ooredoo.
Prior to that Qatar Central Bank had announced that Qatari banks were ready to launch payment services utilizing GooglePay, ApplePay and Samsung Pay. This was announced after all testing was carried out.
The Central bank also announced simultaneously that all global card issuers’ electronic wallet services would also be accepted in Qatar.
As per the announcement all digital payment services will be under the supervision of Qatar Central Bank in an effort to develop the financial technology sector and enhance financial inclusion.
In addition CWallet Services, a fintech startup based out of Qatar has been accepted into the Qatar Central Bank’s Sandbox Program, which will allow it to test its ability to issue mobile phone wallets to customers and merchants over a 6 month trial period.
Ooredoo Money Wallet allows users to manage their financial transactions, send money, make quick payments from anywhere utilizing mobile phone.
These are major efforts being taken by Qatar government as they gear up towards the opening of FIFA 2022 Qatar in November.
