The Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, launched on Thursday 17 November 2022 a new electronic bill payment aggregation platform called Paysmart. The announcement was made during a forum entitled “Innovation and Digital Payments: Real levers for an inclusive growth in Tunisia”..
Designed by the Tunisian electronic money company (SMT) and developed by the Tunisian fintech WeSettle, this platform will allow Tunisians to pay online and via mobile applications, the bills of several public services such as water and electricity, without additional charges for the user.
According to the explanations of the governor of the Central Bank of Tunisia, Marouane El Abassi, the product put on the market was tested during the last six months with the collaboration of the Tunisian Society of Electricity and Gas (STEG), the National Society of Exploitation and Distribution of Water (SONEDE) and seven other financial institutions.
Extending the solution to other public services
To this end, Mr. Marouane indicated that “the importance of the digitization of government payments reflects the consecration of the transparency of exchanges, financial inclusion and decashing. The Central Bank of Tunisia, together with its national and international partners and the IFC, has worked to consolidate the foundations of digital payment, including that of bills in Tunisia. He also added that the team will use the lessons learned from the pilot phase “to gradually extend this solution to other public services”.
Moreover, according to the Governor of the Bank of Tunisia, the launching of this electronic payment platform comes in a context marked by a low rate of financial inclusion (less than 40%), an exacerbated recourse to cash (18 billion dinars), a proliferation of risks including those cyber, a penetration of mobile (+125%) and technological advances (Cloud Computing, Blockchain).
Means of payments…
In his speech, Bilal Darnaoui, General Manager of the Tunisian electronic money company, said that this digital platform will facilitate the payment of bills, using the various means available (bank cards, mobile payments, electronic wallet …) and will save citizens trips to the counters of companies concerned (STEG, SONEDE).
Thus, to reassure users, he convinced that payment operations via this platform are flexible and secure, adding that citizens who are unable to use it (because they do not have a bank card or do not master the technology …) can resort to shops selling food products, dried fruit, bookstores … to pay their bills.
According to available IFC studies, there is a strong demand for digital financial services in Tunisia. The Paysmart.tn platform is a welcome solution for Tunisians.
