The Post and Electronic Communications Regulatory Agency (ARPCE), the Fund Transfer Regulatory Agency (ARTF) and the Professional Association of Credit Institutions (Apec) concluded, on September 22 in Brazzaville, an agreement aimed at implementing the Digital Hub, intended to materialize the source of income from the royalty on electronic transactions in Congo.
The agreement was signed between Louis-Marc Sakala, Director General of ARPCE, Rigobert JR Massamba-debate of the ARTF and Narcisse Obiang-Ondo, President of Apec and Director General of BGFIBank Congo, in the presence of advisor to the Minister of Finance and Budget, Atali Mopaya and to the vice-president of Apec, Calixte Tabangoli, also director general of the Postal Bank of Congo.
With a term of one year renewable by tacit agreement, the agreement aims to ensure the monitoring of electronic transactions carried out in the Republic of Congo by transfer, direct debit or remote payment. It defines, in fact, the conditions for hosting and managing the Digital Hub equipment installed within credit institutions.
To allow the realization and sustainability of the source of income from the levy on electronic transactions, the government decided to set up the Digital Payment Hub project. It consists, among other things, in automating the collection of receipts linked to electronic transactions and controlling the flow thereof, in order to prevent operators from presenting false turnover.
In view of its proven expertise in monitoring electronic communications traffic flows, ARPCE has been designated by the legislator as technical service provider for the implementation of the Digital Hub.
Within the framework of this memorandum of understanding, ARPCE and ARTF have undertaken to comply with all the safety and environmental standards established by the credit institutions which, in return, make themselves available to ARPCE a secure space as well as energy for the accommodation and operation of the equipment to be installed.
As enshrined in the 2019 finance law, 1% of commission for electronic money transactions must go to the Congolese state. Thus, according to a projection made in March 2019 by the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and the Digital Economy, around 34 billion FCFA in three years, or a little over eleven billion per year, could be collected by the State. and contribute to its budget.
This project also ensures the interconnection of financial and credit institutions, then microfinance.
