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Tuesday, March 26, 2024

EBRD expresses support for Tajikistan's roll-out of mobile banking services

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) recently announced that it is supporting the central bank of Tajikistan's establishment of a regulatory framework for mobile financial services.

Regulators and representatives from local and international financial institutions discussed business plans for the roll-out of mobile services at a gathering in Dushanbe on Monday, according to an EBRD press release.

The new framework allows banks to use innovative technologies to expand their services and footprint outside of their brick-and-mortar branches.

Services now offered through mobile devices and agents include account openings, deposits and withdrawals, loans, insurance, remittances and bill payments.

"The advance of this new technology has the potential to enable the financial inclusion of millions of Tajik people," EDB Senior Banker Sibel Beadle said in the press release. "Thanks to the project, Tajikistan now has the regulatory framework and know how required for a vibrant mobile money market which will help bring financial services to its unbanked population."

The EDB carried out a year-long technical cooperation project, funded by the French Finance Ministry, to help Tajikistan develop its regulatory framework.

"The mobile banking project that will be implemented with the technical assistance of the experts of international financial institutions such as European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is an important step in offering modern banking services," Abdujabbor Shirinov, the chairman of the National Bank of Tajikistan, said. "Indeed, this initiative will make it possible to bring financial institutions' services closer to customers' needs and requirements."