Ecuador’s new ‘electronic money’ system should be operational in 2018, the Central Bank says

The director of Ecuador’s Central Bank predicts that a rejuvenated version of  the country’s digital money system will go live in 2018.

Central Bank president Verónica Artola

Following a meeting Monday with private banking and government officials, Verónica Artola, said she believes issues involved in transferring management of the system from the government to private banks will be resolved in the coming months.

“The Financial institutions involved must comply with a number of technical and reporting requirements,” she said. “Among these are ensuring that the computer platform can operate at low cost and provide a full range of services to users.” She added that legislation is being prepared for the National Assembly to allow banks to assume responsibility of the system.

Rolled out to great fanfare by the government in 2013, the digital cash system, operated by cell phone, was a resounding failure with the public, attracting less than 10% of the predicted users. Artola believes having banks manage the system will make it more popular.