Transactions processed in QCB's payment and settlement systems total QR4.4tn in 2021

The total number of transactions processed in various payment and settlement systems of the Qatar Central Bank amounted to QR4.4tn in 2021, the QCB said in its 13th Financial Stability Review.The usage of electronic payment methods in Qatar has increased significantly in recent years due to changes in consumer behaviour in view of the coronavirus pandemic as well as the regulatory measures initiated by QCB.As a result, the number of transactions processed in various payment and settlement systems operated by the QCB crossed 162mn in 2021 compared to 133.5mn transactions processed in 2020, registering an overwhelming growth of 21.7%."This was primarily characterised by the increased usage of debit card transactions,” QCB noted.Of the total transactions, customer payments accounted for 45.8%, followed by central bank operations (39.6%) and other interbank payments (15.2%).The QCB manages a number of payment and settlement systems such as Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS), Electronic Cheque Clearing System (ECCS), QATCH that facilitates fund transfers, NAPS (National ATM and Point of Sale Switch) that acts as an electronic payment gateway for switching and settling of ATM/POS/e-commerce transactions and the Qatar Mobile Payment System (QMPS).As in the previous years, RTGS and NAPS continued to remain the most systemically important systems with RTGS handling 82.2% of the total customer and interbank payments in value terms, and NAPS handling 91.1% of the payments in terms of volume.Although the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic had a marginal impact on payments volume, particularly in the first and second quarters of 2021, overall, the year witnessed a sharp increase in volume and a moderate growth in value indicating that the Qatar economy is indeed in the growth trajectory.While the total value of customer payments grew by 4.3% in 2021, that of interbank payments remained unchanged, the QCB said.Regarding the central bank market operations, as in the previous years, the value and volume of QMR deposits remained much higher than those of QMR loans indicating that the banking system had adequate liquidity during the year, the QCB noted.