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Managing the implementation of financial infrastructure in Arab speaking North Africa |
In two of the larger economies in North Africa the implementation of Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) systems, both in Arab-speaking states, were conducted utilising a similar management approach to the RTGS system implementations in Sub Saharan Africa.
The implementation projects covered the following activities:
- Alignment of business policies, practices and procedures of the central bank and the RTGS system software
- Specifying the IT infrastructure and environment required by the system
- Translating the systems to provide an Arabic user interface
- Implementing the application software and peripheral applications
- Systems integration, including connectivity with SWIFT infrastructure and/or a private interbank network as well as interfacing with peripheral applications
- Training of central bank staff
- User acceptance testing
- Pilot projects between the central bank and participants
- Preparation for cutover to production
The governance of the projects involved Perago executives as well as executives from the central bank and the prime contractor.
The results achieved were, inter alia, the following:
- Availability of a secure, resilient and efficient interbank settlement mechanism
- Optimal liquidity utilisation
- Implementation of SWIFT FIN Copy
- The foundation was laid for the transformation of the financial markets and payment practices in these countries
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