The Banking Executive Magazine - May 2021

Digital payment in Jordan ence of payment much more pleas- ant. Before, we used to go to the campus to pay,” Qasem told The Jordan Times. “We no longer have to worry about the viruses and germs on ban- knotes,” she added. Esther Abu Lail, who works at an in- surance company in Amman, re- calls how she used to spend a whole day every time she needed to make a payment to her university located in a different governorate from hers. “Now, I can pay instantly wherever I am and save a lot of ef- fort,” commented Abu Lail to The Jordan Times. “Paying online enabled me to pay while abroad,” Thomas, an engi- neer who works outside of the King- dom, told The Jordan Times. “Also, I can pay 24/7,” added Thomas, who prefers to go by single name. While digital payment has benefited users in saving a lot of time and ef- fort, it has also benefited corporates since “the system is organised, effi- cient and easy to track,” according to CEO of JoPACC Maha Bahou. With the government welcoming digital payment methods and the Central Bank allowing digital on- boarding, digital payment ex- panded to serve different companies and organisations. The National Aid Fund, for instance, started using digital wallets to pro- vide monthly aid to beneficiary families. Other examples include educational institutions, banks, and companies that started paying monthly allowances to their em- ployees using digital wallets as well, Bahou said. “Many sectors benefited from the increased demand for digital pay- ment,” Bahou told The Jordan Times. “We worked with financial institutions to enable QR code pay- ment as well,” Bahou noted. Although many users find eFAWA- TEERcom easy and sufficient, some users faced difficulty using it. Marwa Abdeen, a student, told The Jordan Times that she had a hard time getting introduced to the plat- form. “We got the huge benefit of conven- ience of course, but we felt it would have been clearer if there was a guide on how to manage your bills and bank account through the smart phone application,” Abdeen said. Raya Homsi, another student, agreed with Abdeen. “Although adopting digital payment methods was a good option to decrease the chances of getting infected, I had a hard time paying my tuition be- cause I was not clear on how to use digital payment initially,” Homsi told The Jordan Times. When asked about suggestions to improve the service, Hamzeh Ghaith, a customer success man- ager in a private company, men- tioned that it would be helpful if all digital services can use a single method of identification. “If all services were connected to one’s ID number, for instance, it will be easier to pay bills using one ref- erence number instead of having to enter a different reference number each time/for each payee,” Ghaith told The Jordan Times. Other suggestions by users included keeping a record to easily track pre- vious payments and reducing the commission fees to encourage more people to use the digital payment platforms. “Raising awareness of the public is key,” Bahou said. “We distributed instructional booklets and posted videos on social media platforms to introduce citizens to digital pay- ment. We also interacted with users to answer frequently asked ques- tions,” Bahou noted. “During our on-ground studies, we interact with potential users and see what triggers them to use digital payment, and how they could best get involved in the digital financial world,” Bahou added. ISSUE 149 MAY 2021 the BANKING EXECUTIVE 33