Perago to Implement Interbank Payments System for Palestinians

Perago, a SIA-SSB Group company specializing in infrastructures for central banks, has won the tender issued by the Palestine Monetary Authority (PMA) to design and develop the new interbank payments technology infrastructure in Palestine.

The creation of the new interbank payments system is a strategic development towards the Palestinian State as it constitutes the basis for the establishment of a modern financial infrastructure, said Perago in a statement. It will enable the efficient clearing and settlement of payments within the banking system in Palestine.

The new payments technology infrastructure planned for Palestine will be the world's first implementation of a packaged solution capable of processing both wholesale and retail payments, offering RTGS (Real-Time Gross Settlement) as well as retail payments clearing functionalities, within the same system, claimed the company. The integration of these two requirements is compliant with the recent guidelines issued by the World Bank, aimed at promoting the concept of a single platform for the clearing and settlement of interbank payments within a national economy characterized by limited volumes (so called ATS " Automated Transfer System).

The RTGS system will use the features and flexibility of the SIA-SSB Group's Perago:rtgs software to automate and manage the payments flows exchanged across the banks' accounts in real time. There are currently 20 banks (10 of which are foreign) operating in the Palestinian territories offering access to the banking system through a network of 205 offices. The infrastructure is expected to process a daily average of around 10,000 payments.

The project is expected to be completed during the course of 2010.