Page 22 - ITU-T Focus Group Digital Financial Services – Recommendations

ITU-T Focus Group Digital Financial Services
Recommendations

Title of recommendation Interoperability stakeholder coordination
Working Group Interoperability

Audience for recommendation Authorities, DFS providers.

The roles of public authorities and private sector stakeholders in achieving interoperability should be clearly
defined and agreed upon. The involvement of all relevant stakeholders, be they incumbent providers or new,
authorized/regulated entrants, should be ensured throughout the process. The implementation of interoperabil-
ity should leverage to the extent possible existing coordination structures. If coordination structures are not yet
in place or existing ones are not suitable, alternative coordination structures should be established.

Interoperability, like other major payments reforms, requires the active and often continuous involvement
of a broad range of stakeholders from the public sector and the private sector. A collaborative approach
to payment system modernization is essential. On one hand, relevant changes in any area of the payments
industry will most likely have an impact on all of its participants. Moreover, as a network industry, some of the
challenges to improve efficiency, safety or security can only be overcome by the industry as a whole. Another
crucial reason for cooperation is that no single individual or entity possesses all the knowledge needed to
address payment system reforms. Different mechanisms can be used for these purposes.

In many countries, central banks have established and usually chair a payments council and/or a financial
inclusion council that serves as a forum for multi-stakeholder consultations. A National Payments Council
(NPC) or National Payments Committee is one of the most commonly used coordination mechanism for
payment reforms, especially in countries that have engaged in larger or more significant reforms. It consists
of a rather structured and, in many cases, formal mechanism with leadership from the central bank.

If interoperability is a market wide-approach, as opposed to the establishment of interoperability between
selected market participants, existing coordination structures can be used for that purpose. In the absence
of these structures and/or if not all market participants are (yet) interested in interoperability, a task force
among the market participants can be formed, involving authorities as observers.

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