Governor Chea Chanto of the NBC and deputy governor of the reserve bank of Fiji, Esala Masitabua, shake hands after signing MoU on February 23 in Phnom Penh. NBC
The National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) signed two separate memorandums of understanding (MoU) with the Central Bank of the Solomon Islands and with the Reserve Bank of Fiji to strengthen "Cooperation in the Area of Financial Innovation and Payment Systems".
The signing ceremony was held on February 23 in Phnom Penh, between Governor Chea Chanto of the NBC and the governor of the Central Bank of Solomon Islands, Luke Forau, as well aso with deputy governor of the reserve bank of Fiji, Esala Masitabua.
Chanto said that the MoUs are milestones for the three central banks to achieve a higher level of financial cooperation by further leveraging technology to benefit the population in the three countries.
He said that the main purpose of this MoU was to focus on cooperation in developing an innovative finance and payments system and to share related information on innovation and digital payments in financial services for their respective markets. It also provides a platform for technical cooperation to stimulate the aforementioned collaboration through the exchange of experiences and knowledge.
Forau said that the Solomon Islands are very keen to collaborate with the NBC and to learn from Cambodia's experiences in leveraging technology to benefit its people.
Governor Chea Chanto of the NBC and the governor of the Central Bank of Solomon Islands, Luke Forau. NBC
“Cambodia has given us an opportunity to learn from its leadership in the use of technology and in addition to that has committed through the MoU to cooperate in developing payment systems that facilitate ordinary people to make payments and receive funds with minimal delays,” he said.
Masitabua said that Fiji was extremely grateful to the NBC for its willingness to share its experiences and knowledge in the use of technology in developing its payments system.
“The MoU provides a platform for free sharing of information and collaboration that will assist Fiji's journey in the development of a modern, efficient, and reliable digital payment system to support the needs of the people of Fiji.
“This collaboration will further support the ongoing national payments reforms and allow Fiji to leapfrog in its journey in the use of technology to support finance sector development,” he said.
NBC created the Bakong app to explore the use of an alternative technology platform to address the lack of interconnectivity and interoperability between financial institutions and platforms and to attain efficiencies within the current payment system and promote financial inclusion and the use of the Khmer riel currency.
