The Royal Monetary Authority is pleased to inform the general public that the Authority, in collaboration with the commercial banks and the Department of Trade, Ministry of Economic Affairs (MoEA), has launched the Internet-based Point of Sales (PoS) service at fuel stations, with the service being first introduced in fuel stations in Thimphu. The service will be gradually rolled out in other fuel stations across the country.
The introduction of Internet-based PoS service is an initiative taken to promote the use of digital payment services and to reduce the use of physical cash at fuel stations where there are high volume of physical cash transactions on a daily basis. The PoS service is enabled through the Bhutan Financial Switch, a centralized payment platform that allows interoperability of Debit/ATM Cards amongst the member banks.
While the initiative is a part of the Authority’s effort, both as an enabler and as a provider of digital payment services, to promote use of and access to financial services by leveraging on new and innovative Financial Technologies (FinTech); the Authority, as the Central Bank, which is entrusted with the important responsibility of printing and issuing currency, is motivated to promote digital payment services with the view to minimize costs associated with printing currency notes, currency sorting, cash movements and transfers, storage, security, etc.
To this end, the Authority encourages the general public to make use of this facility at fuel stations for efficiency and convenience. The government and the corporate sectors are also encouraged to avail of this facility for pool vehicles which will help in reducing irregularities arising from using fuel-books.
The Hon’ble Minister of the Ministry of Economic Affairs graced the event on June 15, 2017.
