20 February 2006
Manama: In accordance with Bahrain's e-government initiatives and its shift towards electronic services, the Benefit Company has launched a premium payment gateway targeting the country's banks and financial institutions.
The recently established and revamped payment gateway provides financial institutions with one payment solution hub, integrating company websites and enabling them and their merchants to conduct secure online transactions.
Benefit General Manager Abdul Wahid Janahi yesterday said that the payment gateway had been developed and upgraded, making it the only locally owned service provider exclusively for financial institutions.
The Benefit payment gateway is developed and based on SSL and high security modules.
It is certified by Visa and MasterCard International with the 3D security of Visa and SecureCode of MasterCard, which sets the rules and regulations for e-commerce transactions.
"The Benefit payment gateway service eliminates cost and time in an increasingly competitive banking environment, whereby financial institutions do not have to make a large investment in order to introduce and establish their own payment gateway.
"Given Bahrain's market size, it is inefficient and uneconomic to have a number of payment gateway solutions on the island," Janahi said.
"Technology is the single most rapidly advancing business facet, and many organisations have already taken initiatives to harness opportunities in the region, particularly with the growing number of banks which have already implemented internet banking as a value-added tool. The convenience, speedy transaction time and efficiency of the payment gateway are unparalleled in response to the demanding nature of this industry," he said.
Benefit provides the payment gateway for a minimal fixed charge.
Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait is already online with the service and Benefit welcomes other banks and financial institutions, thereby enabling them to provide electronic services to their customers.
"Once institutions enable their websites to accept electronic transactions for certain services, they will reap a number of benefits that include time efficiency as customers will not have to go to the banks to settle their routine bills.
"It is also convenient since the service will always be available 24/7 and economically efficient due to its lower operational costs," he said.
Benefit is licensed by the Bahrain Monetary Agency to offer ancillary services in the financial sector, and is the sole provider of services such as GCC-wide, cross-border ATM sharing under the GCCNET arrangement, as well as the switching of local debit card transactions at point of sale counters, and bill payment services.
Benefit also operates the kingdom's Credit Reference Bureau.
By Habib Toumi
Gulf News 2006. All rights reserved.
