President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has decided to form the Maldives International Finance Service Authority to establish a development bank.
At a press conference, Principal Secretary to the President Abdulla Nazim Ibrahim said President Muizzu has approved the formation of the authority. He said that the authority will carry out its functions in accordance with guidelines on licensing onshore banking to be formulated by the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA). He also said that the government will draft and submit a bill to Parliament on the establishment of international financial centres.
Additionally, the Cabinet has decided to take steps to remove barriers to accessing funds through online payment platforms. Nazim said an e-wallet service will be introduced by the Bank of Maldives (BML) within a week and that the government will hold discussions with the United States on obtaining the e-commerce platform, PayPal.
Furthermore, the government will work on drafting a special bill on cyber security after holding talks with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Turkey.