Qatar’s payment systems processed close to 134mn transactions worth QR4.1tn in 2020, the QCB said and noted customer payments accounted for more than 99% of the total payments.
In the previous year, some 135mn transactions worth QR4.3tn were processed, the Qatar Central Bank said in its latest Financial Stability Review (FSR).
In terms of the value of transactions, customer payments accounted for 46.8% of the total payments in Qatar in 2020, followed by central bank operations (36.4%) and other interbank payments (16.7%).
Among the QCB-operated payment systems, Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS) and National ATM and Point of Sale Switch (NAPS) remained the most systemically important systems with RTGS handling 83.1% of the total customer and interbank payments in value terms and NAPS handling 90.2% of the payments in terms of volume.
Qatar’s payment system consists of several wholesale and retail payment systems that handle the financial transactions, in Qatari riyals, among the banks within Qatar.
It includes RTGS, Electronic Cheque Clearing System (ECCS), QATCH that facilitates settlement of bulk direct credit and direct debit transactions, NAPS, the electronic payment gateway used for switching and settling of ATM/POS/e-commerce transactions and the newly launched Qatar Mobile Payment System (QMPS).
Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, and the subsequent partial lockdown, the number of customer and interbank payments settled in the QCB-operated payment systems during 2020 remained almost at the same level as in 2019, although the value declined moderately by 12.6% in 2020, mainly due to a reduction in large value transactions, particularly in the second and third quarter of the year.
At the same time, the migration from cash and paper-based payment instruments to electronic payments methods, a trend was seen during the past, continued in 2020 as well.
The progressive and active role taken in previous years by the QCB and the government in fostering domestic payment infrastructures and promoting electronic payments contributed to it.
The Covid-19 pandemic has further accelerated the shift as consumers and merchants have sought to reduce their use of cash and cheques, due to health concerns about handling cheques and banknotes.
Regarding the central bank market operations, as in the previous year, the value and volume of QMR deposits remained much higher than those of QMR loans indicating that the banking system had adequate liquidity during the year.
In the previous year, some 135mn transactions worth QR4.3tn were processed, the Qatar Central Bank said in its latest Financial Stability Review (FSR).
In terms of the value of transactions, customer payments accounted for 46.8% of the total payments in Qatar in 2020, followed by central bank operations (36.4%) and other interbank payments (16.7%).
Among the QCB-operated payment systems, Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS) and National ATM and Point of Sale Switch (NAPS) remained the most systemically important systems with RTGS handling 83.1% of the total customer and interbank payments in value terms and NAPS handling 90.2% of the payments in terms of volume.
Qatar’s payment system consists of several wholesale and retail payment systems that handle the financial transactions, in Qatari riyals, among the banks within Qatar.
It includes RTGS, Electronic Cheque Clearing System (ECCS), QATCH that facilitates settlement of bulk direct credit and direct debit transactions, NAPS, the electronic payment gateway used for switching and settling of ATM/POS/e-commerce transactions and the newly launched Qatar Mobile Payment System (QMPS).
Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, and the subsequent partial lockdown, the number of customer and interbank payments settled in the QCB-operated payment systems during 2020 remained almost at the same level as in 2019, although the value declined moderately by 12.6% in 2020, mainly due to a reduction in large value transactions, particularly in the second and third quarter of the year.
At the same time, the migration from cash and paper-based payment instruments to electronic payments methods, a trend was seen during the past, continued in 2020 as well.
The progressive and active role taken in previous years by the QCB and the government in fostering domestic payment infrastructures and promoting electronic payments contributed to it.
The Covid-19 pandemic has further accelerated the shift as consumers and merchants have sought to reduce their use of cash and cheques, due to health concerns about handling cheques and banknotes.
Regarding the central bank market operations, as in the previous year, the value and volume of QMR deposits remained much higher than those of QMR loans indicating that the banking system had adequate liquidity during the year.