News

Abu Dhabi, UAE, 21 March 2022: The Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) and the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), providing a general framework to strengthen collaboration in matters of common interest between the two Regional Financing Arrangements in the context of strengthening Global Financial Safety Net (GFSN).   

The MoU covers the preparation of joint activities, including the annual High-level dialogue among Regional Financing Arrangements (RFAs) and between RFAs and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as well as the Joint RFA Research Seminar. The MoU also includes the possibility of doing joint research by ESM and AMF staff and collaborating through other modalities such as technical cooperation, capacity building, information sharing, and staff exchanges.

Abu Dhabi 17 March 2022: In a ceremony hosted by the Arab Monetary Fund at its headquarter in Abu Dhabi, UAE, Ms. Maha Bahou, CEO of The Jordan Payments and Clearing Company (JoPACC), a payment system operator owned by the Central Bank of Jordan and all commercial banks in Jordan, and Mr. Mehdi Manaa, CEO of Buna, the cross-border and multi-currency payment system owned by the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF), signed today a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) putting in place a framework of cooperation between Buna and JoPACC. 
Under the terms of this MoU, Buna and JoPACC target to achieve interoperability between their instant payment services, Buna “IPS” and JoPACC’s "CliQ”, by providing innovative solutions that allow their participants to send and receive cross-border payments instantly in accordance with the highest compliance standards. 
The connectivity between Buna’s IPS and JoPACC, emphasizes Buna's role as a strategic hub that links national instant payment solutions and creates another payment rail targeting to support various use cases, including digital remittances and e-commerce. 

Abu Dhabi, 16 March 2022: The Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) holds on Thursday, March 17, 2022, a workshop to elaborate on Buna (the cross-border payment system owned by the AMF) plans to establish strategic partnerships that will lead to interoperability between Buna and other national and regional payment systems in the Arab region and in other global markets.  The workshop will also discuss the importance of message standards in supporting interoperability between payment services. 
This workshop will host the CEO of International Payments Limited (NIPL), the international arm of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), and the CEO of the Jordan Payments and Clearing Company (JoPACC), the operator of the national payment system of Jordan.
During this workshop, the leaders of NIPL and JoPACC, will talk about their collaboration with Buna to connect their instant payment solutions with the Buna instant payment services and offer their participants a safe and efficient payment rails to send and receive payments instantly. 

Abu Dhabi, 8 March 2022: Mr. Mehdi Manaa, CEO of Buna, the cross-border and multi-currency payment system owned by the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF), and Mr. Ritesh Shukla, CEO of NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL), the international arm of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) establishing the foundation for a partnership between Buna and NIPL, to implement payment solutions that lead to interoperability between their instant payment services and allow their participants to exchange cross-border payments in a cost-effective and secure way, instantly, 24 hours a day and 365 days a year. 

Abu Dhabi 23 February 2022: The Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) and UnionPay International (UPI), announced today the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish cooperation and create interoperability between Buna (the cross-border and multi-currency payment system owned by the AMF) and UnionPay. Under the terms of this MoU, Buna and UnionPay will be connecting their payment systems to introduce to their network of participants, fast, efficient, and multi-currency cross-border payment solutions.

In this context, interlinking Buna and UnionPay’s payment systems will represent a step forward in both entities’ efforts to contribute to the global efforts to improve the accessibility and efficiency of cross-border payments.

The Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) issued today Monday, 21 February 2022, a guide titled “Central Bank Digital Currencies: A Practical Guide for Arab Central Banks”, produced by members of the Arab Regional Fintech Working Group (WG). The guide is issued under the framework of the Fund's endeavours to support Arab central banks in their journey exploring CBDCs that matches best for each jurisdiction, and are well suited for the central bank objectives, available resources, targeted implications, taking into consideration country-specific conditions, infrastructure and as well as respective legal and regulatory frameworks.

Abu Dhabi, 17 February 2022: The Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) holds today, Thursday, February 17, 2022, a workshop to elaborate on the recent developments related to Buna (the cross-border payment system owned by the AMF).

At the occasion of this workshop, Buna will announce the pricing of its cross-border new instant payment services (IPS) in response to the demand of its users for an approach tailored for low to mid-value payments and incentivizing the usage of instant payment at cross-border level.

Abu Dhabi and Amman, 8 February 2022 - Pension Funds in the Arab Region have begun to take steps towards integrating environmental, social, governance and sustainable development issues into investment decisions, finds a new report by the Arab Monetary Fund and the United Nations Development Programme, however much more progress needs to be made if pensions funds are to achieve their potential to support the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) issued today Monday 6 December, 2021, a paper on “Open finance: A framework for the Arab region is more than a question of scope”, summarizing the results of a collaborative study conducted by the Arab Regional Fintech Working Group (WG), which AMF acts as the technical secretariat of the group’ and the MENA Fintech Association. The paper is issued under the framework of the Fund's endeavours to promote awareness of the requirements for developing banking and financial industry, while supporting digital financial transformation efforts in Arab countries.

The paper aims to craft the transition from open banking to open finance, beginning from the areas adjacent to payment accounts and covering the whole financial services, highlighting the needs for additional considerations to accommodate the cross-sector functionality of open finance, and providing insightful answers on how open banking can  improve the efficiency of a border financial ecosystem and  support digital financial inclusion in the region.

The Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) issued today Sunday November 28, 2021, a policy paper on “Islamic Fintech in the Arab Region: Imperatives, Challenges and the Way Forward” prepared by the Arab Regional Fintech Working Group (WG), which AMF acts as the technical secretariat of the group. The paper is issued under the framework of the Fund's endeavours to promote awareness of the requirements for developing Fintech, hand in hand with Islamic Financial Services Industry while supporting digital financial transformation efforts in Arab countries.

The paper aims to provide policy advice on how to adopt these technologies in the Islamic Financial Industry, how to employ them properly, in addition to the related pre-requisites, and how to overcome the implementation challenges. Thereby how to improve the efficiency of Islamic banking and financial services, aiming to support digital financial inclusion in the region.