MANAMA: Benefit, the main handler of the country’s electronic fund transfers and ATM transactions, has reported that its electronic payment solution BenefitPay achieved 300,000 registered users, over 2,300 merchants with overall transactions of six million by the end of 2019.

Benefit has reported that the number of Electronic Fund Transfer System (EFTS) transactions over all channels was 15.39m, an 82 per cent increase over 2018.

The total value of EFTS over all channels increased by 18pc reaching BD13.55 billion in 2019.

Launched in November 2015, the EFTS interconnects all retail banks in Bahrain providing online funds transfer and bill payment services to individuals, businesses and government agencies.

Three main services offered under the system are Fawri+, 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; Fawri, 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 which provides real-time and offline bill payments and direct debit.

The number of Fawri transactions across all channels increased by 21pc to 7m with a total value of approximately BD12.73bn in 2019, whereas Fawri+ saw an increase of 557pc across all channels, totalling 6.3m transactions in 2019, increasing from BD174.73m in 2018 to BD542.46m in 2019.

Fawri+ BenefitPay showed the highest increase in volume of 2712pc, with the value of payments reaching BD328.12m in 2019 with a 2,210pc growth rate versus BD14.2m in 2018.

Benefit added more billers to the Fawateer service from 110 in 2018 to 236 in 2019, an 115pc increase in growth.

Additionally, Fawateer witnessed an increase in volume from 1.66m in 2018 to 1.99m in 2019, with a growth rate of 20pc, valued at BD281.89m in 2019 compared with BD133.12m in 2018.

Commenting, Benefit chief executive Abdulwahid Janahi said: “We are extremely proud of the achievements during 2019. The figures reflect on the success of our platform, catering to consumers in a variety of ways. As a team, we will continue on the path of innovation to achieve more in 2020.”

avinash@gdn.com.bh

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