The National Fintech Strategy will support and reinforce a diversified economy and investments in Qatar based on financial technology and technological innovation said Qatar Central Bank (QCB) Governor Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saoud Al Thani addressing the gathering at the launch of the ‘National Fintech Strategy’ at the Sheraton Hotel, Doha yesterday.
He said the new strategy revolves around four key pillars that would boost Qatar’s economic growth enabling it to compete with the rest of the world as a technologically advanced state.
The QCB Governor said the Fintech strategy was designed to take into account several key principles, including benefiting from the investments made by the state, benefiting from Qatar’s geographical and global spread, its leadership in Islamic banking and insurance services, as well as its leadership in the educational sector.
The Fintech strategy will support the state in its journey to achieve scientific and technological advancement which the country has given top priority in its development goal, he said noting that the new strategy will help improve the lifestyle of all citizens by providing seamless financial services.
He said a fully-integrated payments platform has been created as part of the current update of the payment system software, including a central infrastructure system for swift payments network.
The Fintech strategy was scheduled to be launched in the final quarter of 2023 designing a new strategy for financial technology.
The Qatar Central Bank has also created the infrastructure to enable banks to approve payments from digital wallets.
Qatar’s fintech industry has continued to grow and attract international businesses over the past year.
The QCB has accorded the highest priority towards digital payment solutions over the past decade.
It has also provided approved various initiatives that will contribute towards supporting emerging companies in the field of financial technology over the past couple of years.
The QCB in its initiatives to drive growth in financial technology has granted licenses to over 23 innovative fintech companies.
QCB presented its first licenses for digital payment services in August last year waving the green light to Ooredoo Money and iPay by Vodafone Qatar.
The QCB launched the mobile payment service Google Pay in the country, reiterating that all global digital wallet services including Apple Pay, Samsung Pay were now accepted in Qatar.
The QCB has been in the pioneered industry initiatives such as the Qatar Fintech Hub has helped boost growth of the domestic fintech ecosystem and has supported more than 60 startups.
Fintech refers to firms using new technology to compete with traditional financial methods in the delivery of financial services. Artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud computing, and big data are considered the “ABCD” (four key areas) of fintech.