KUWAIT: The Kuwaiti Ministry of Finance on Monday signed a three-year contract for electronic payment services with the Joint Automated Banking Services Company (KNET) to create a safe financial environment for collecting government service fees electronically. Undersecretary of the Ministry of Finance Aseel Al-Munifi told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that the role of the Ministry of Finance is to create a financial legislative mechanism for collecting government fees in a safe manner and in accordance with accounting rules, indicating that this comes by virtue of the Ministry’s jurisdiction to prepare instructions and rules that regulate the recording of financial operations and the collection of revenues.

Al-Munifi added that the Ministry of Finance provides electronic payment services to all government agencies through this contract with KNET, as these agencies link their services that are automated and converted to electronic services to facilitate transactions for citizens and reviewers, in addition to the ease of collecting revenues safely and delivering them to the public treasury at the same time.

She explained that this contract transfers services to electronic services that speed up the collection process and complete the service easily, noting that previously the services were in cash and then turned into paper-based services, after which they go through electronic portals and points of sale via credit cards and electronic stamps via the e-Stamp application.

She pointed out the digitization of services is in accordance with the directives of the Council of Ministers to pay through secure links that meet all cybersecurity standards according to the general rules of the Cybersecurity Center in Kuwait. She stated that KNET provides within the contract modern devices and all the supplies that government agencies need to complete this service, indicating that the company provides training services for employees on how to collect payments electronically and solve problems.

Al-Munifi said that the Ministry of Finance has a team called the Electronic Payment Team that was formed years ago. The team consists of accountants and IT specialists, whose affairs are concerned with holding permanent sessions with KNET and determining the sound financial and legal frameworks for converting services from paper to electronic.

For his part, KNET CEO Essam Al-Khashnam told KUNA that this contract is concerned with electronic stamp systems and the government’s method of collecting fees for services it provides — to reviewers in general — whether citizens or expatriates in Kuwait. Al-Khashnam added that the aim of this contract is to facilitate the payment process to become more streamlined, easy, and simple through a specialized system, indicating that these services will be safe and documented. — KUNA