Half of the multiple banks that operate in the country already have a local electronic wallet as a channel to facilitate payments to their clients, which demonstrates the sector’s commitment to digitalization and the financial inclusion that this entails, said the Association of Multiple Banks. of the Dominican Republic (ABA).
The ABA also highlighted that 44% of commercial banks have the option of a global electronic wallet, according to data recently provided by the Superintendency of Banks in the 2024 Digitalization Ranking.
The Association of Banks explained that digital wallets are solutions that allow users to access, manage and use different payment instruments issued by one or more service providers through a mobile application or website.
“These instruments make it possible to make payments quickly from a smartphone or mobile device, eliminate the need to carry cash or physical cards, facilitate financial planning through detailed expense reports, allow multiple payment credentials to be stored securely and limit physical contact when carrying out transactions,” the ABA said in a press document.
He specified that, at the end of August of this year, there were 180,047 physical and 14,373 virtual points of sale in the national territory with the capacity to accept contactless payments, the base technology for operations with digital wallets, according to data from the Central Bank.
Digital wallets constitute an innovative, agile and secure option, which favors financial inclusion and has great growth potential in the Dominican Republic, assessed the Association of Banks.
The ABA sees an increase in the use of electronic wallets in the country
For the first half of 2024, 8% of financial system users used local electronic wallets and 7% used international wallets to make payments, according to data from the Digitalization Ranking of the Superintendency of Banks, and it is expected that their use continue to increase in the coming years, due to the demand of increasingly digitalized users and a more diverse banking offer, considered the banking union.
The Association of Banks indicated that the types of electronic wallets used in the country are the digitalization of payment credentials, electronic payment accounts, mobile payment systems and virtual prepaid cards, in accordance with the guidelines of the Central Bank.
He explained that these are extremely secure instruments, using cutting-edge technologies such as onboarding and authentication that involves multiple factors such as biometrics, secure passwords, digital tokens or a combination of these options. In addition, he explained that the data is encrypted and mechanisms are implemented to prevent fraudulent transactions, using user behavior to detect possible unauthorized transactions.
The ABA pointed out that digital wallets and the expansion of the operations of banking subagents are part of the National Financial Inclusion Strategy led by the Central Bank and have been in force in the Dominican Republic since before 2020.
In that order, he explained that the adoption of this solution was accelerated by the need for contactless payments generated by the pandemic and by the approval of the Payment System Regulations in 2021, which enabled new figures in the Dominican payments ecosystem, such as payment service providers.
