• Published on 31 January 2025
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FSB MENA Group discusses cross-border payments, non-bank finance and crypto rules

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) Regional Consultative Group for the Middle East and North Africa (RCG MENA) met in Egypt to discuss cross-border payment reforms, non-bank financial intermediation, and crypto-asset regulations, highlighting regional challenges and regulatory priorities.

The meeting took place on 29–30 January 2025 in Sharm El Sheikh, hosted by the Central Bank of Egypt.

The meeting started with an overview of the FSB’s work programme for 2025. Members exchanged views on how to best incorporate their regional perspective into the planned initiatives. Accelerating progress in cross-border payments, strengthening the resilience of non-bank financial intermediation (NBFI), and implementing the FSB’s regulatory framework for crypto-assets were considered among the areas most relevant for the MENA region.

On the topic of cross-border payments, members discussed the FSB’s 2024 progress report on the G20 Roadmap for cross-border payments and the challenges to further improve the speed and cost of transactions. These challenges include frictions that arise from the laws, rules, and regulatory requirements for collecting, storing, and managing data that must accompany a cross-border payment. To address this, implementation of the FSB’s recommendations to promote interoperability in data frameworks was seen as a priority.

Members reviewed recent NBFI developments, drawing on the findings of the FSB’s latest Global Monitoring Report on Non-Bank Financial Intermediation and were briefed by IOSCO on its recent publications on open-ended funds and liquidity risk management in collective investment schemes. They also discussed the FSB’s proposed package of recommendations to address leverage in the NBFI sector, and the approach to equip authorities with the flexibility needed to address specific risks within jurisdictions, while allowing for a consistency of outcomes across jurisdictions.

Members shared experiences of crypto usage in their jurisdictions and progress in the development of regulatory frameworks for crypto-assets and stablecoins, including challenges in implementing the FSB’s recommendations.

Finally, members exchanged views on global and regional market developments, including perspectives on the outlook for financial stability and geopolitical risks; high levels of sovereign debt could become a source of vulnerabilities.

Re-disseminated by The Asian Banker