A one day workshop was organized by SESRIC in cooperation with the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey on “Payment Systems and Capacity Building of Central Banks of OIC Member Countries” on 26 September 2010 in Istanbul, Turkey. The main objective of the workshop was to exchange views and experiences on payment systems in OIC Member Countries and on capacity building programmes organized by the Central Banks, as well as to explore the possibility for further cooperation and collaboration among the Central Banks.

The workshop was attended by the relevant senior officials and experts of the Central Banks from OIC member countries; namely, Albania, Algeria, Bangladesh, Morocco, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Qatar, Turkey, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, and Central Bank of West African States.

The workshop was organised in line with the decision of the governors of Central Banks and Monetory Authorities of the OIC member countries, who declared in the Final Communique adopted during the Meeting of Central Banks and Monetory Authorities of OIC Member States-2009 held in Istanbul, Turkey, that each meeting should be preceded by workshops and technical work.

The workshop extensively discussed and deliberated on the most pertinent issues related to payment systems and capacity building, such as the feasibility of establishing an effective cross-border payment and settlement system among the OIC member countries, the importance of cooperation on having effective operation, regulation and oversight of payment systems in individual member states and harmonisation of the legal systems.

The workshop agreed upon the significant role of payment systems in maintaining financial stability through increasing the effectiveness of monetary policy and expressed its willingness for further cooperation to learn from each other innovative payment instruments. The need for a more harmonised and converged payment system among the member countries, convergence of big banks systems to national payment system, and improving the infrastructure of existing payment systems was also stressed during the workshop.

The workshop also took note of the current capacity building programs offered by central banks of the interest of other central banks for participation, and identified the areas where information and training could be shared and exchanged. In this regard, experts have stressed upon the importance of active participation of central banks in the Central Banks Capacity Building Programme developed and managed by the SESRIC through matching the needs and capacities of central banks by regularly conducted survey.

Presentations

• “A Short View on Bangladesh Bank's (Central Bank of Bangladesh) Efforts”, Abu Hena Mohd. Razee Hassan, Executive Director, Bangladesh Bank
• “Human Capital Development for Islamic Financial Industry”, Malaysia
• “Experts Workshop Payment Systems and Capacity Building in OIC Member Countries: Payment Systems in Malaysia”
• “Capacity Building”, Nadia Raiss, Deputy Director Economics and International Relations Department, Bank Al-Maghrib
• “International Training Activities”, Füsun Saçin, Training Specialist, Training Department
• “Payment and Settlement Systems of the CBRT”, Elvan Göçmen Ertem, Payment Systems Department, Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey
• Capacity Building in the CBUAE (Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates)