CliQ – Instant Payment System

Launch Date: June 2020
System Participants: Banks
Key Service: Instant fund transfers between financial accounts in Jordan

 

CliQ is Jordan’s newest Instant Payment System that was launched by JoPACC in June 2020. CliQ enables sending and receiving money between bank accounts across all participating banks in Jordan instantly, and to and from any mobile wallet. CliQ services, which are available 24/7 and offered at no cost currently, are integrated into the mobile applications of banks, facilitating direct and smooth access for bank clients to CliQ. First-time users are required to register to the service by defining their alias, which could be a name, a mobile number, or an email, on which they desire to receive money. The alias feature expedites transactions, saving users the time and complexity of entering an IBAN or an account number when making transfers. CliQ offers a bundle of services, including instant money transfer, request to pay, return payment, recipient confirmation, and confirmation of receipt.  

CliQ, which is based on the ISO 20022 messaging standard, leverages cutting-edge international principles of financial market infrastructure, making it a valuable addition to JoPACC’s payment systems. Interoperability is a hallmark of CliQ’s services, as it is a strategic goal for JoPACC. As such, bank account owners can seamlessly and instantly make and receive transfers from mobile wallet owners. The operating rules for CliQ can be found here.

CliQ brings the fascinating world of instant payments to Jordan’s banks, their clients, FinTech startups, and the overall digital economy. Its diverse and technologically advanced nature will enable the platform to be utilized across a variety of use cases. The future of Jordan’s digital economy will have a lot of CliQ to it.

CliQ Services

CliQ aims to increase liquidity in the Jordanian market, offer an attractive alternative to cash payments, and accelerate the cycle of cash flow in the Jordanian economy. It is equipped with three primary services: Single Credit Transfer, Request to Pay, and Return Payments. All services are interoperable, enabling transactions between financial accounts across all participating financial institutions.  

  • Through Single Credit Transfer, clients of financial institutions can transfer money and make payments to other clients instantly, with the option for notification of the receipt of payment by the payee. CliQ supports multiple payment addressing modes, including IBAN, alias, and phone number. Payers can also verify the payment address information before completing the transaction.
  • Request to Pay allows payees, or third-party providers, to send a request for payment directly to the payer’s account. The payer has the option to accept or reject this request. Request to Pay opens up the doors to a variety of innovations that could be built on top of the CliQ platform and could be seen as a milestone for Jordan’s Payment Technology ecosystem.
  • CliQ also enabled payees to return received payments to the originator, with the choice of returning any amount less than or equal to the original payment.  This improves the traceability of returned transactions and offers an additional layer of convenience and ease to clients of financial institutions.
CliQ Participants

21 banks have so far connected to CliQ: Arab Bank, Bank al Etihad, Bank of Jordan, Housing Bank, Jordan Islamic Bank, Ahli Bank, Capital Bank, Jordan Commercial Bank, Jordan Kuwait Bank, Safwa Islamic Bank, Cairo Amman Bank, Invest Bank, AJIB, ABC, EALB, Islamic International Arab Bank, BLOM Bank, Citi Bank, and Al-Rakji Bank.

CliQ Monthly Reports

JoPACC publishes monthly reports on CliQ that give insights on the total and the monthly growth of the number of users, and the nature of users by age, gender, and nationality. The reports further provide information on the monthly number and value of transactions as well as the average value of transactions. Monthly CliQ reports can be found here.