News.

Mr. Marouane EL ABASSI, Governor of the Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT), presided today, January 20, 2020 in Tunis, the ceremony of the official launch of the regulatory Sandbox of the BCT.

Took part in this ceremony, MM. Anouar Maarouf, Minister of Communication Technologies and Digital Economy, Habib Ben Hadj kouider, President of the Tunisian Professional Association of Banks and Financial Institutions and Onur Ozlu, representative of the World Bank, and Ms. Nadia Gamha, Vice -Governor of the BCT as well as a large panel of operators in the Fintech sector.

The regulatory sandbox is one of the "key mechanisms that the regulator will implement to promote banking and financial innovation," said El Abassi. It is a full-scale testing environment for innovative solutions offered by selected Fintechs with voluntary clients for a limited period of time and under the supervision of the BCT.

This launch of the BCT regulatory sandbox is the culmination of more than a year of work with technical assistance from World Bank experts, in concert with the Tunisian innovation ecosystem and with visits to 'studies with several central banks,' said El Abassi.

For Mr. EL ABASSI, understanding the complexity of new technologies is becoming a necessity for the regulator. It is a "Momentum" for developing new solutions and adjusting, if necessary, the regulatory framework.

In this regard, Mr. El Abassi announced that the year 2020 will be placed under the sign of the development of Digital in the financial sector. In this sense, he considered "fundamental" the transformation of financial institutions, in close collaboration with Fintechs. The objective being "to develop a new economic model based on inclusion, innovation and the creation of wealth with high added value".