YEREVAN, May 17. /ARKA/. Digitalization of Armenia’s financial and banking sector has no alternative, Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank of Armenia Armen Nurbekyan said.
“Our customers should receive high quality services, spending minimum time on it. From this point of view, there is certainly no alternative. It is important for the Central Bank that this does not come at the expense of security. The most important thing is to have quality technological solutions that will allow us to provide better services more quickly without jeopardizing people’s financial data and security, in general,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the 4Future Banking forum on Friday.
According to Nurbekyan, banks have done significant work on digitalization, but there is more room for action,
“The Central Bank always encourages banks to invest in this particular area, because it is primarily knowledge that is subject to competition. All companies, not only financial companies, are “hunting” for technological talent and good solutions,” he said
“We have, of course, certain local regulations that set minimum requirements for the banking system regarding cybersecurity, but in the end it is important that we are sure that the regulation in the banking segment is set up in such a way that the managing structures can correctly identify risks and accordingly build all the processes to cover them,” he said.
In addition, according to the Central Bank deputy chairman, cybersecurity is one of the three pillars of the big digitalization process taking place in the country.
“The Central Bank has made significant investments in an agency that plays a significant role in cyber security. We thereby hope that there will be more specificity in the legislative field with our colleagues in the government on the issue of critical infrastructure protection,” he said, pointing to the need for cooperation, information sharing and training of cybersecurity professionals.
“The most important (areas of) investment are people and long-term thinking,” Nurbekyan summarized.
The second 4Future Banking Forum, organized by Earlyone, brings together IT companies offering the latest solutions in the financial and banking sector – from AI to cybersecurity and fintech.
The event, attended by representatives of companies from nine countries, including Russia, Georgia, Moldova, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, aims to create a platform for exchanging information and establishing facets of cooperation. -0-