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Indonesia: Bank of Indonesia Announces Significant Growth In QR Code Merchant Acceptance
In January 2020, Indonesia implemented a new QR code standard for e-money applications, electronic wallets and mobile banking, with the aim of improving financial inclusion and growing the number of merchants able to accept digital payments. In particular, the new standard targeted attracting small and medium-sized merchants. The central bank has now revealed that the service, known as QR Code Indonesian Standard (QRIS), has reached 12m merchants as of November 2021. This is up from 5.8m merchants at the end of 2020.
Significant growth in merchant acceptance will help accelerate digital payments in the country, which is still relatively low. At the end of 2020, each person in Indonesia made on average 48 non-cash transactions during the year. This contrasts to nearly 200 in Thailand and more than 600 in South Korea.
QRIS is part of a wider payments modernisation drive by Indonesia. In October, the Bank of Indonesia announced plans to roll out a new instant payment service before the end of the year called BI-FAST.
Europe: Polish Virtual Currency Regulations Enter Into Force
Registration requirements for virtual asset service providers (VASPs) in Poland entered into force on October 31.
Entities that are already active in providing virtual currency-related activities have until April 30 to register, but new businesses must register with the country’s tax authority before they start operating. Failure to register may result in a penalty of up to PLN100,000, or £18,500.
Last week, the Bank of Spain announced details of its register for VASPs. Registration will be mandatory from the end of January for everyone that offers these services in the country.
United States: FBI Raids Chinese Payments Terminal Company
Officers of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Customs and Border Protection searched Pax Technology, the Chinese manufacturer of payment terminals, PIN pads, and point of sale hardware and software.
Investigators raided the Florida office and warehouse of the company and interviewed certain employees of Pax US.
According to media reports, the FBI is investigating allegations that Pax terminals facilitated the spread of malware and were used as command-and-control tools for staging attacks and collecting information.
Pax said the company “is not aware of any charge having been filed against the group in relation to such incident.”
Pax shares traded on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange reportedly dropped by 43 percent following the announcement. The company halted the trading of its shares between October 27 and November 1, but stated “the company does not envisage any material financial impact on the group.”
United States: Nacha Announces New APIs To Enhance Account Ownership Validation And Payment Initiation
Afinis Interoperability Standards has released two APIs to assist financial institutions’ business clients with account ownership validation and with payment initiation.
The Account Validation Plus Name API enables businesses to verify the owner of an account, therefore improving payment surety and reducing fraud.
The other API standard called Authorize to Initiate Payment allows payers and payees to instantly agree on the terms of each payment and receive real-time confirmation. The API also provides a real-time ACH debit authorization, as well as a virtual card number authorization.
Afinis is a member-based standards organization, which counts the U.S. National ACH Association (Nacha) among its members.
International: Central Banks Commit To Continuing Support For Climate Action In NGFS Glasgow Declaration
The Network of Central Banks and Supervisors for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) has released the “NGFS Glasgow Declaration: Committed to Action” to reiterate their continuous commitment to help meet the global objectives of the Paris Agreement.
As part of the declaration, the group of 100 central banks and supervisors set out commitments for the coming years to strengthen their collective efforts towards greening the financial system.
“Looking ahead, and in light of the urgency and seriousness of climate change and environmental issues, we will expand and strengthen our collective efforts to improve the resilience of the financial system to climate-related and environmental risks, and encourage the scaling up of the financing flows needed to support the transition towards a sustainable economy,” the declaration reads.
