Brunei Studies Electronic Payment System
By Azlan Othman

Bandar Seri Begawan - A senior government officer underlined that the arrival of information society, borderless globalisation and rapid technological changes mean that we must be innovative and adaptive to be always relevant and responsive to all these challenges.

Reiterating the Minister of Energy's speech in June 2006 that `business is no longer as usual' in oil and gas and that we have to expedite the economic diversification and accelerate critical deliverables, Pg Dato Paduka Hj Ismail, Permanent Secretary at the Prime Minister's Office said yesterday, that technology and human capital have been recognised as two important variables in the success equation for a sustainable economic development.

Speaking at the presentation for the establishment of a national financial network for electronic payment system in Brunei at the Rizqun International Hotel, Pg Dato Hj Ismail added that in Brunei, the ICT industry is an exciting and growing sector. "We recognise that the appropriate use of technology is one of the important agents of change in our continuous efforts to ensure better service_ delivery and provide good governance.

"The Brunei e-government initiative has implemented a number of important programmes and is currently looking at several other key elements to put into better use such vast arrays of technologies and solutions," he said.

Pg Dato Hj Ismail added, "One such element is the introduction of electronic transaction and of course electronic payment system.

"We are now studying this case very actively and are addressing a number of critical factors for a successful rollout. "Besides the normal concerns on security, confidentiality and legislation, other issues are also being looked out.

"But we must not forget the human capital and customers as we drive our organisation towards greater efficiency, higher productivity and propel new height," he said. Sahid Sdn Bhd, a leading local company with its technology partner, Sterling Odyssey, a Malaysian company specialising in banking and IT consulting, organised the seminar on national electronic payment system (NEPS).

The seminar is also supported by the Authority for Info-Communications Technology Industry (AiTi) with its vision to provide Brunei with a dynamic, innovative and vibrant ICT industry that is anticipative to the needs of the nation and responsive to the challenges of the information era.

The seminar is aimed at supporting such vision and with the objective of gaining interest and initiative interactions between government agencies and business entities such as potential stakeholders. Sahid seeks to promote the implementation of e_' business IT applications from the public and private sectors for the development of electronic systems in Brunei.

Pg Adanan b PSI Pg Hj Ismail, Managing Director of Sahid Sdn Bhd highlighted that NEPS is designed to provide an efficient and effective shared network services to all banks nationwide, enabling shared inter-bank ATM, point of sales, GIRO and inter-bank e-banking.

The facility for transactions is performed via an electronic means through open network such as internet or intranet and is accessible by vendors, government departments and agencies, anywhere accommodating the use of ‘chip cards' and electronic payments for all financial institutions in Brunei.-- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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