Czech Banks To Invest $260M Into National Development Fund

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis has proposed a national development fund to help invest in social issues, digitization of the economy, education and transportation, according to a report by Reuters.

On Monday (May 20), the Czech Banking Association said it welcomed the proposal, and Babis said big banks in the country have agreed in principle on a starting capital of six billion Czech crowns ($259.92 million) to put into the fund.

The fund will be established as soon as possible, and how much it accomplishes depends on the total amount of funding. The association said the fund should be independent and fully professional.

In other Czech news, Wirecard, the digital financial technology company, announced in April that it is expanding its partnership with O2 Czech Republic, the largest telecommunications player in the Czech market. In a press release, the companies said more merchants will be able to use a completely integrated mobile point-of-sale (mPOS) solution focused on fully digitized payment options. Under the new deal, the two companies will extend their current project in the Czech Republic and will enter Slovakia.

The partnership will enable Wirecard and O2 to help retailers in the Czech Republic and Slovakia to comply with upcoming changes in fiscal laws covering payment acceptance and processing. Wirecard said its platform enables secure acceptance and processing of digital payments, as well as online completion of transactions that meet new compliance rules.

“The collaboration with telecommunications companies is a key driver of our business in Central Eastern Europe,” Wirecard CEE Managing Director Roland Toch said in the press release. “The expansion of our partnership with O2 is a testimony to the value we have brought to many thousands of merchants in the Czech Republic so far, by allowing them to quickly and easily capitalize on the countless benefits digitalization has brought to large and small businesses alike.”