The Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) holds a virtual workshop to share the experience of Buna’s most active participants

The workshop is hosting high-level speakers from First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), Bank Muscat, and Bank of Africa

More than 200 senior officials will attend the workshop, representing central banks and a wide spectrum of regional and global financial institutions

Abu Dhabi, 16 June 2022: The Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) holds today, Thursday, June 16, 2022, a workshop to share the views of the participant banks that are the most active in using Buna (the cross-border payment system owned by the AMF) for their cross-border payments.

In a context where Buna is witnessing not only an increase of the number of participants, but also an increase of the number of currencies each participant uses, as well as a general increase of volumes and values of settled transactions, the workshop will gather high-level guest speakers representing First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), Bank Muscat, and Bank of Africa. They will share with the audience their concrete experience and practical knowledge resulting from using Buna’s cross-border and multicurrency payment services.

During this workshop, the Buna team will also share a general update on Buna and its progress with a particular focus on the upcoming FX service that Buna is preparing to introduce during the 2^nd half of 2022.

The workshop will host more than 200 senior officials representing central banks, along with various institutions from the financial, banking, and payment sectors in the region and beyond, seeking valuable information on Buna’s plans and developments.

At this occasion, Mehdi Manaa, Chief Executive Officer of Buna said: “Buna is moving ahead. While we continue enlarging our network of participants, we enrich our services in parallel. In this context, we are always seeking efficient collaboration with our participants, to deliver innovative payment solutions that can make cross-border payment safer, quicker, and less costly.”   

Mehdi added: “Buna product rollout plan targets the offering of innovative solutions that brings a cross-border and multi-currency dimension to various payment instruments. Accordingly, we included in our plan for 2022 the launching of FX service based on a Payment versus Payment (PvP) mechanism. This additional service will bring cross-border liquidity management to the next level and allow liquidity optimization not only across multiple channels and payment instruments but also across multiple currencies, through a single window and with the support of efficient and flexible tools.”

Buna, is a cross-border payment system owned by the Arab Monetary Fund, aiming to enable financial institutions and central banks in the Arab region and beyond to send and receive payments in local currencies as well as key international currencies in a safe, cost-effective, risk-controlled, and transparent environment. Buna offers participants modern payment solutions that comply with international standards, principles, and compliance requirements. Thanks to its cross-border payment system Buna contributes to exploring and strengthening opportunities for economic and financial integration in the Arab region and supporting investment ties with the global trading partners. Buna welcomes the inclusion of all banks that meet the criteria and conditions for participation, primarily the standards and procedures of compliance aspects.