Transactions worth MVR 10.6 million were made in two days through the 'Favara' national instant payment system introduced by the central bank.
The Favara system enables convenient and instant money transfers between banks. The first phase of the system was launched on Saturday night.
The payment system's service is currently available through internet and mobile banking of the Bank of Maldives (BML), Maldives Islamic Bank (MIB) and the State Bank of India (SBI).
Services currently available include instant payments between banks, sending requests to pay, account verification to ensure the correct recipient and smart addressing for easy user identification.
With the smart addressing service, a Favara account can be registered using an email address or phone number instead of the bank account number.
The Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) said efforts are ongoing to integrate other banks into the system by the end of the year.
Following the completion of the first phase of the project, the MMA said further services would be available upon the launch of the second phase in the near future, including the integration of Favara with e-wallets.
The MMA also plans to release a special application for Favara in the second phase.
According to the MMA, 'Favara' is the biggest recent change to the country's payment structure, assuring security, convenience and innovative changes to the financial system.
