As Measure 5.2.1 of the Pacific Regional E-commerce Strategy and Roadmap points out, lack of interoperability between payment service providers increases the costs of financial transactions for both consumers and merchants and may prevent the use of certain payment solutions by complicating the entire E-commerce ecosystem. This challenge is compounded by the difficulties to provide identification (national identity card or alternative means) to meet KYC requirements, which further reduce the number of potential clients. Payment providers -banks and MNOs- have been working in silos, making costs of developing dedicated electronic payment solutions very high for very limited populations.
Work is underway in several Forum members to accelerate the development of centralized infrastructures for the digital clearing and settlement of payments. Central Banks are working with the World Bank to develop a regional payment system. These new systems will allow both banks and non-bank PSPs to exchange payments in real-time, achieving full interoperability at national level. The central banks are also implementing the relevant reform of the legal framework to properly monitor and regulate the market.