The Société d’Automatisation des Transactions Interbancaires et de Monétique (SATIM) and the Groupement d’Intérêt Economique Monétique (GIE Monétique) organized a meeting in Algiers on Tuesday to present the banking community with the Switch mobile project, which is due to come into effect in December.
Designated as the national switch for electronic payments, Satim is now working to modernize the means of payment by deploying new technologies and ensuring their interoperability on the banking and postal networks. According to Mohamed Nabil Dehri, Satim’s technical division, the traditional payment system that has been in place for the past few years is currently limited to three services only, namely cash withdrawal on ATM (ATM), payment via Electronic Payment Terminals (EPTs) and payment via the Internet, thanks to the technical platform deployed and managed by Satim. “Today, electronic payment has become much more modern in the world and is being done much more via mobile phones instead of cards. Especially since mobile payment is cheaper than Electronic Payment Terminals,’ says Dehri.
In order to move to a new, more modern and less expensive payment method, “the Banque d’Algérie has designated Satim as the national switch or switch responsible for managing the flow of mobile payments, through a platform that it will have to install to connect all banks’ mobile payment solutions and ensure their interoperability,” he explained. According to him, this platform will be operational next December, where a pilot will be set up to ensure at least interoperability between two or three banks, while waiting to integrate any bank that is ready with its solution, the aim being to connect all Algerian banks during 2024. At Satim level, the call for tenders for the realization of this platform has been launched and the supplier of the technical solution has already been chosen with all the requirements complying with international standards, the manager informs us.
