Dubai, UAE: 23rd July 2015 – BPC Banking Technologies, the leading provider of Open System payment solutions, together with Palestine Monetary Authority (PMA) announces the launch of the National Switch of Palestine. The National Switch, based on SmartVista, is considered a cornerstone for the Electronic Retail Payments in Palestine.

The implementation of the National Switch is part of PMA’s strategy in electronic retail payments and the reduction of the use of cash and cheques in order to minimize the risk of the use of cash and other paper based payment instruments. At this moment Bank of Palestine, Bank of Jordan and Cairo Amman Bank are switched to the integrated ATM/POS network with standardized specifications, enabling citizens to use ATM cards issued by any bank to access services at ATMs belonging to any other bank with affordable transaction fees.

The collaboration of BPC Banking Technologies with PMA resulted in a record breaking time of the launch – 18 months – building the whole national switch system from scratch. Currently PMA is licensed for direct operation with international payment systems like MasterCard and Visa and is ready to process transactions flows. The launch of this system will encourage the banks to issue more debit and prepaid cards and will also encourage the distribution of POS-terminals throughout the country. This initiative aims to stimulate financial inclusion penetration by bringing comprehensive, convenient and available services to the whole nation, while reducing the cash circulation in the country constraining financial transparency.

“Palestine Monetary Authority highly appreciates to partner with BPC Banking Technologies. The path from the idea of National Switch in the country to its implementation was straight and short due to our partner’s expertise and dedication to the project. Nowadays PMA is also planning to continue working with the remaining banks to mandatory connect the national switch by the end of the third quarter of 2015, and also the inclusion of new payment services. The implementation of the switch will increase access to banking services, especially in rural areas which will improve banking services and comply with PMA’s financial inclusion strategy”, said Dr. Jihad Al Wazir, Governor and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the PMA.

According to Angelo Bertini, MD Middle East and North Africa, BPC Banking Technologies, this project with PMA proves that commitment and joint dedication efficiently bring the idea of national financial transparency and affordable banking services to live. “We are happy with PMA’s enjoying SmartVista’s functionality and are confident that with every new bank-member and each new project the company will see even more benefits from scalability, performance and availability of SmartVista as well as working with BPC Banking Technologies.”