Eight-fold rise in electronic real-time fund transfers

MANAMA: Electronic real-time fund transfers surged eight-fold for the third month in a row, signalling a transformation in the way people transact in Bahrain.

The latest infographics released by the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) reveal that transactions using Fawri, Fawri+ and Fawateer services, enabled by the Electronic Fund Transfer System (EFTS), have seen substantial growth in September this year when compared with the same month last year.

Fawri+ is an almost real-time fund transfer service which allows individuals or entities to transfer funds of up to BD1,000 per day in less than 30 seconds; whereas Fawri is a deferred settlement fund transfer service which allows individuals or entities to transfer any amount within a few hours of the business day, and Fawateer provides real-time bill payments.

Last month, Fawri+ accounted for the vast majority, 81pc, of EFTS transactions, followed by Fawri and Fawateer at 11pc and 8pc respectively.

However, in terms of value, Fawri was the leader claiming 81pc, followed by Fawri+ at 16pc and Fawateer at 3pc.

The number of transactions completed through Fawri+ in September 2020 amounted to 5,176,885, up 684.5pc (around 8 times) from 659,919 in September 2019 and 11.5pc higher than 4,642,743 in August 2020.

Higher

In terms of value, Fawri+ transactions amounted to BD232.9m in September 2020, up 332.8pc from BD53.8m in September 2019, and 13.9pc higher than BD204.5m in August 2020.

As for Fawri, the number of transactions jumped by 28.98pc to 724,062 in September 2020, when compared with 561,361 in September 2019 and 16.05pc higher than 623,897 in August 2020.

Also, the total value of Fawri transactions at BD1,159.16m in September 2020 is up 16.18pc from BD997.70m in September 2019 and by 27.89pc from BD906.35m in August 2020.

The number of transactions made through the Fawateer service in September 2020 were 518,939, 191.46pc higher than 178,047 in September last year, and 40.48pc higher than 369,407 in August 2020.

In terms of value, Fawateer transactions amounted to BD42.06m in September 2020, 138.63pc higher than BD17.63m in September 2019, and 22.48pc higher than BD34.34m in August 2020.

The CBB data shows also that credit card and debit card transactions across point of sale (POS) terminals saw a jump of 5.8pc in value to BD205.4m in September 2020, when compared with the same month last year.

Providing an insight into how sales and services have been affected by the Covid-19 crisis in Bahrain, the statistics show that the number of transactions has gone up by 20.4pc to 7,402,789 last month from 6,150,425 in September last year.

Source: http://www.gdnonline.com/Details/874520/Eight-fold-rise-in-electronic-real-time-fund-transfers