Another blow to the eye: One of the moves promoted by the Ministry of Finance and the Competition Authority in the upcoming Settlements Law is the attempt to decentralize control of the money transfer market in Israel. In today’s market, the Bit application dominates almost absolutely and the office is now planning a new step that could seriously damage the application.
Transferring funds between accounts using a phone number
The treasury promotes the possibility of transferring funds between accounts based on a phone number only, similar to the application. The purpose of the office is to thereby increase the ability of consumers to transfer money from one to another in a variety of ways and with relative ease compared to what has been the case so far. The move, if enacted, will be significant since the great advantage of the apps is that the transfer of funds through them is considered particularly simple.
Smotrich, the ministry fears the dominance of Bit | Photo: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90
The move joins a previous move initiated by the Ministry of Finance and planned to be included in the upcoming Arrangements Law, which will allow consumers to transfer funds between the apps themselves, something that is currently not possible. In the proposed law, all payment applications will be required to allow the transfer of funds between one another, which will allow more applications to enter the market and will also make people move between the applications. This is how the office hopes to increase competition. Despite the desire of the Ministry of Finance, one should make a reservation and say that it will not be easy for the Ministry of Finance to make the move, but they are determined to act on the matter.
Fear of Bit’s absolute control
What worries the ministry and the authority is that precisely because of the absolute control of the application, every time they decide to raise the fees for customers, this will affect almost all citizens and in wide circles. That is why the laws that are intended to be included in the upcoming Law of Arrangements are being promoted.