The governor of the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic (BCRD), Héctor Valdez Albizu, met with a delegation of international executives from MasterCard, led by Andrea Scerch, president of the firm for Latin America and the Caribbean, in which they discussed the progress made in Payment Systems both by the card-issuing company and by the Central Bank itself, an institution that is at the forefront of this sector throughout the region.
Valdez Albizu stated that “promoting electronic payments and financial inclusion in the country constitute public policy priorities for the Central Bank. For this reason, we have carried out different actions aimed at this end, from the implementation of a Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system that has been in operation for almost 20 years, to the continuous updating of regulations on payment systems.”
Likewise, he added that “we are implementing the National Financial Inclusion Strategy with the goal of promoting access to financial services for an important segment of the population”.
In that vein, he highlighted that “we are currently working on launching a technological platform that will provide Dominicans with a modern instant payment management system that will operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, which will completely change the way of making and receiving payments in the country”.
The governor stated that “these initiatives and others that we have promoted have received the enthusiastic support of all payment service providers, including the card brands that currently operate as payment system administrators and are complying with the country’s regulations”.
More Read
In this regard, he added that “undoubtedly, cards play an important role in the payment of goods and services in the economy, as they are widely accepted and easy-to-use means of payment.”
Likewise, Valdez Albizu expressed his interest in having “firms like MasterCard offer Dominicans all possible measures to combat fraud and cybercrime, something the Central Bank has been working on for some time with a high-standard technological level, which places it at the forefront of the best in Latin America and Central America.”
For his part, Andrea Scerch expressed “MasterCard’s firm commitment to contribute to the digitalization of the Dominican economy, with full willingness to be an active part of the BCRD’s initiatives”.
More Read
He also said that “we would be delighted to bring ideas, value, and solutions to the Dominicans. We celebrate the BCRD’s initiatives to increase technology and improve financial inclusion, committing ourselves fully to providing security and trust in fraud prevention to our clients in the Dominican Republic”.
The governor was accompanied by the vice governor, Clarissa de la Rocha de Torres; the manager, Ervin Novas Bello; the deputy manager of Monetary, Foreign Exchange and Financial Policies, Joel Tejeda Comprés; the advisor to the Governor’s Office, Julio Andújar Scheker; the director of the Payment Systems Department, Ángel González Tejada; and the director of the Financial Regulation and Stability Department, Carlos Delgado.
The MasterCard delegation was completed by Silvana Hernández, divisional president of North LAC; Tomás Alonso, country manager; Alejandra Chavarría, manager of Government Affairs and Public Policy; and Sovieski Naut, public sector manager.
