Follow us on:

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube

Archive -Seychelles

Visa/Mastercard payment channel for government e-services launched |20 May 2015

Queuing to pay or renew your different licenses will soon be a thing of the past. With the launch of the Visa/Mastercard payment channel for government e-services, now you just need to spend a few minutes behind your computer and your transaction is done.

The launch of this service provided by the government, through the department of information, communication and technology (DICT), was done by Vice-President Danny Faure yesterday at the Seychelles Trading Company conference room.

If you have a valid visa/master card, you can now pay for your business registration and business renewal license online. Services like planning application, vehicle testing fees, and collateral registry for moveable assets and driving license renewal will also soon be payable online.

 “The launch we are witnessing today, I believe, addresses a critical component in enabling citizens and businesses to transact more seamlessly online, electronically, with government. We are introducing another electronic channel through which citizens or businesses can make payments to government also, the first government e-service to have this facility for receiving payments,” said ICT principal secretary Benjamin Choppy.

He added that this is through the online use of bank cards affiliated to the Visa and Mastercard systems.
“DICT has now developed the know-how for integrating the Visa-Mastercard payment facility in any of the online e-services it has deployed or will be deploying in the future. It now has the capability of deploying fully transactional e-services. DICT is presently working with other government organisations to have this payment facility incorporated as part of their e-services too. The number of e-services with this payment facility is expected to grow over time,” noted PS Choppy.

In order to make this project possible, four organisations – Barclays Bank, the Treasury within the Ministry of Finance, Trade and the Blue Economy , the Central Bank of Seychelles (CBS) and DICT – worked closely to implement the e-services that are fully transactional and deploy them relatively quickly with no be-spoke developments required for payment.

“DICT will also continue to work with other payment solution providers in order to incorporate as many electronic payment channels within the e-services that it builds for government,” promised Mr Choppy.



CBS governor Caroline Abel said: “I would describe the introduction of this system as a symbolic milestone in the modernisation process of our national payment structure as well as a compelling example of public-private collaboration where organisations came together to put this e-service in place. I would like to encourage all financial institutions to join this modernisation effort as at the end of the day, it is our clients and ultimately the economy as a whole that would benefit from an efficient movement of financial flows. The enactment of a more modern national payment system legislation last year has set the foundations for the introduction of new and innovative payment services whilst at the same time setting out the rules for a disciplined environment on the part of those offering such services as customer protection is paramount.”

The governor of the CBS also said “in recent times, the CBS has been implementing a series of reforms aimed at improving all payment-related activities, processes, mechanisms, infrastructure and users on a national level through technological means.”

The current projects that CBS are working on to improve business growth are the other phases of the electronic cheque clearing system, the Seychelles Electronic Funds transfer, the introduction of a local switch which will ease the routing of card transactions for clearing and local settlement in Seychelles which will potentially allow for cost reduction and further encourage users to make the most of the card medium for payments and the introduction of a Real Time Gross Settlement System which will reduce the waiting period usually imposed on payments.

Government is definitely gearing up towards improving the business environment, thus making the lives of businessmen and common people much easier.

 

 

 

 

» Back to Archive