CBS promotes development of e-commerce through capacity building opportunity for website developers

CENTRAL BANK OF SEYCHELLES

P. O. Box 701, Victoria, Seychelles

Tel: + (248) 4 282 000; Fax: + (248) 4 226 104

Website:www.cbs.sc

PRESS COMMUNIQUÉ

Victoria - March 02, 2021

CBS promotes development of e-commerce through capacity building opportunity for website developers

The Central Bank of Seychelles (CBS) has today taken a further step towards the implementation of the National Payment System (NPS) Modernisation Plan, by facilitating a training to assist the development of e-commerce in the country.

This is being done through a Capacity Building for website developers on embedding payment gateways onto websites. The three-day virtual training is aimed at building a pool of local expertise in the area of e-commerce.

Addressing some 60 participants in her opening remarks, the Governor of CBS, Ms Caroline Abel, highlighted that technology permeates many aspects of our lives, from the way we transact to the way we communicate. She noted that while there is increased interest and willingness for leveraging online payments, challenges have been identified, especially with regards to capacity in this sector.

"Gaps have been identified whereby the average website developer often does not have the competence or awareness to integrate payment solutions within websites. Hence, these specialist services may be sub-contracted, leading to high margins and increasing cost to the client. With the appropriate training, we believe that local website developers will be better aware of the options available and will have the technical capacity to integrate these payment platforms within websites, and as such, potentially contributing to the ease of access to goods and services and reducing the cost to the customer," said Ms Abel.

CBS is hosting this training in collaboration with local and international stakeholders, notably the Department of Information Communications Technology (DICT), three commercial banks with e-commerce facility - namely Absa Bank, Al Salam Bank and Mauritius Commercial Bank -, VISA, ProgressSoft Corporation and Arab Financial Services Company (AFS).

The development of e-commerce is part of CBS' efforts to promote the use of digital financial services, an effort that has gained momentum in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which spurred government and private entities to roll out adaptative measures to manage the impact of the pandemic.

Aside from the NPS Modernisation Plan, which received Cabinet approval in August 2020, this initiative also ties in with the implementation of the Government's digital economy agenda and the National Fintech Strategy which is expected to be launched in June 2021.