Bahrain preparing for digital economy

Manama : Bahrain is making all efforts to create a digital economy and a near-cashless society will be a reality within the next two years, said the CEO of Arab Financial Services, B. Chandrasekhar. The Kingdom will soon pass legislation to make digital salary payments mandatory so that everybody in the workforce is included in the digital economy network.

As Bahrain moves to make e-salaries – the payment of wages digitally – legal across all levels, the next 12 months will be critical and financial institutions and digital economy purveyors will be racing to complete the eKYC procedures to ensure security of the system, Chandrasekhar told delegates at the BCICAI Conference which concluded yesterday. 

“But for Bahrain to own its digital economy, we need a proper ecosystem that will have a network with end-to-end digitization – from Central Bank to local banks to telcos, money transfer entities and merchants all the way to consumers. I think that will take at least two years more for Bahrain even though we have a robust beginning,” he added. 

Chandrasekhar said the CBB had started the process of starting a digital economy in Bahrain with the creation of a ‘regulatory sandbox’, which provides an opportunity for fintech businesses around the world to expand and thrive in the Gulf and strengthens Bahrain’s position as a fintech and financial services hub in the GCC. The framework provides a virtual space for companies to test their technology-based innovative solutions, and is open to existing CBB licensees and other local and foreign firms. The testing duration is nine months, with a maximum extension of three months.