Retail Payment Systems
In the OIC Member Countries
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Table 5. Strategy proposal for retail payments
Principle Actions by government and private players
Consumer
protection,
transparency, and
access
Minimum standards for consumer protection and transparency
Ombudsman office
Enshrine customers right to financial access
Legal framework
Legal act to address standard payment system issues
Regulations, guidelines to address specific aspects
Proportionate regulations for payment service providers
Enable non-bank players to offer payment services
Infrastructure
Require inter-operability
Foster creation of national payment networks
Fair and transparent access criteria for using infrastructure
Competition
Encourage competition amongst payment instruments and
mechanisms
Legal safe-guards against anti-competitive behaviour
Ensure fair-access criteria
Ensure cross network acceptance of payment instruments
Risk management
Minimum standards for data security, privacy, fraud and operational
risk management
Effective mechanisms to address settlement risks
Source: Adapted from the World Bank, Payment Systems Development Group
These policies are clearly weighted towards responsibilities vested in states rather than
private players. They are encased in the following guidelines, specified in the World Bank
report on national retail payments strategies:
• Guideline I: The market for retail payments should be transparent, have adequate
protection of payers and payees interests, and be cost-effective.
• Guideline II: Retail payments require reliable underlying financial, communications, and
other types of infrastructure; these infrastructures should be put in place to increase the
efficiency of retail payments. These infrastructures include an inter-bank electronic funds
transfer system, an inter-bank card payment platform, credit reporting platforms, data
sharing platforms, large value inter-bank gross settlement systems, availability of robust
communications infrastructure, and also a national identification infrastructure.
• Guideline III: Retail payments should be supported by a sound, predictable, non-
discriminatory, and proportionate legal and regulatory framework.
• Guideline IV: Competitive market conditions should be fostered in the retail payments
industry, with an appropriate balance between co-operation and competition to foster,
among other things, the proper level of interoperability in the retail payment
infrastructure.