Financial infrastructures and digitalization were the theme at the third session of MNB’s international knowledge-sharing seminar series

Between October 14-17, 2024, the Magyar Nemzeti Bank (MNB) continued its 2024 Technical Cooperation Programme with a seminar titled "Financial Infrastructures, Payments, and Digitalization" in Budapest. Foreign experts representing 19 central banks and supervisory authorities attended, among others from the Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, Georgia, Tunisia, Kuwait, Oman, and Western Balkans. The MNB's Technical Cooperation Programme, launched in 2023, aims to strengthen international professional exchange of view, to foster cooperation with the MNB's foreign partners, and to promote dialogue on central banking issues.

Given its particular importance and relevance, the topic of payment infrastructures and digitization was included also in the programme offering in 2024, after 2023. The seminar focused on key topics such as the modernization of financial infrastructures, innovative payment systems, the Hungarian FinTech ecosystem, and the MNB's digitalization initiatives. Electronic payment solutions have seen dynamic growth in recent years and have become essential elements of a modern, internationally competitive economy. MNB speakers provided detailed presentations of the Hungarian Instant Payment System, one of the central bank's flagship projects, which has revolutionized Hungarian payments and resulted in the successful digital transition of the banking sector, marking the largest financial innovation in Hungary in the last thirty years.

The 28 foreign central bank experts were also introduced to the tools implemented to reduce fraud in the retail payment market, as well as the MNB's best practices in IT and cybersecurity, an increasingly important topic today. In the second half of the seminar, participants learned about Hungarian FinTech trends, MNB's technological initiatives, and its pilot program for Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). Through case studies, participants broadened their practical knowledge of the main factors influencing payment habits, best practices for promoting electronic payments, and oversight practices related to financial infrastructures.

As part of the MNB's Technical Cooperation Programme of 2024, under the theme "From Tradition to Innovation", one more seminar will be held this year, focusing on the topic of "Monetary Policy Instruments and Crisis Management," scheduled for November 25-28, 2024.