The Palestine Monetary Authority (PMA) has called in BPC Banking Technologies to help it roll out a national switch electronic payment system.
The PMA - which describes itself as the emerging Central Bank of Palestine - is bidding to modernise Palestine's retail payments infrastructure, encouraging a move away from cash and cheques to electronic money.
BPC's SmartVista technology will first be used to create an integrated ATM network, enabling customers to use all machines, regardless of which bank they belong to. A second phase will see domestic routing and settlement of point-of-sale transactions performed using debit cards issued in any bank in Palestine.
The PMA says that its project will also boost financial inclusion, enabling all segments of society to access banking services, especially in remote and rural areas where bank branches are not available.
Jihad Al Wazir, governor, PMA, says: "The project will reflect positively on the national economy, as it will inevitably achieve the PMA's efforts to shift from a society reliant on cash money to one which utilises modernised non-cash payment instruments in its daily transactions in order to expand the use of the latest electronic payment methods."