UAE Central Bank supports m-Government

The Central Bank of the UAE has hosted a meeting in support of the m-Government initiative launched on 22nd May, 2013. The meeting was attended by Sultan Bin Nasser Al Suwaidi, Governor of the Central Bank, with senior staff of the Central Bank, Ahmed Abdul Karim Julfar, CEO of Etisalat Group and some senior staff of Etisalat, Osman Sultan, CEO of Du, and Tirad Mahmoud, CEO of Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, representing the UAE Banks Federation. The meeting explored how best to remove obstacles to the m-Government initiative from both the banking sector and the telecommunications sector perspectives. Etisalat and Du will implement a more user-friendly, high capacity e-mail system or other systems to facilitate fast and efficient transmission of bills. The Central Bank of the UAE will develop a common payment system which will link to the telecom providers' systems. It confirmed that it will be urging banks to use SMS to confirm transactions on credit cards and bank accounts as a means of reducing fraud. The Central Bank urged both Etisalat and Du to reduce their charges for data transmission and SMS messages. Also, the Central Bank pressured both Etisalat and Du to reduce the cost of core systems and telecommunications services to enable payment transactions, and encourage customers to carry out their transactions on mobile devices. The meeting recognized the need for close collaboration between the Central Bank, banking sector and the telecommunications sector in the UAE, to ensure that effective regulations are enacted. It was decided to form a technical working group representing the institutions attending the meeting, to ensure rapid and effective implementation of suggestions.