Mobile phones to be used to make payments

Kazakhstanis will be able to use their mobile phones to make payments, a Tengrinews.kz journalist reports, citing Yerlan Ashykbekov, Head of the Payment Systems Management Department of the country’s Central Bank. The Central Bank is drafting a new legislation on payments and payment systems.

“The new legislation will cover new types of payments. It will set a legal framework for mobile carriers to make payments, using the subscribers’ accounts”, he said. According to him, subscribers will be able to opt for money to be written off the mobile phone balance.
“At the same time we have no intention of vesting mobile carriers with new powers (…) the task of the mobile carriers will be to have funds returned [from bank accounts] to subscribers’ mobile phone accounts ", he said.

“All of this will be done in cooperation with second tier banks and operators of e-money systems”, Yerlan Ashykbekov said. Among other things, mobile phones could be used to pay utility bills.

Earlier the country’s media reported that through introducing a legal framework in 2015 the Government intends to toughen control over instant payment systems that have been unregulated so far.