Commercial Bank International (CBI) has become the latest bank to achieve compliance with WPS (Wages Protection System) which enables electronic payment of salaries to company workers as per a decree issued by UAE Ministry of Labour.

CBI was one of the first banks to be certified by the Central Bank of UAE as ‘WPS-ready’ and has already started processing salaries through WPS in collaboration with its business partner C3, a leader in Electronic Payroll Solutions.

The bank said it was planning to tie up with other clients that will become WPS compliant soon. “Providing full-fledged banking services to our corporate clients is one of our key strategic objectives,” commented Douwe Oppedijk, chief executive officer of CBI.

“We have implemented state of the art solutions to enable our corporate clients to switch to electronic payment of staff salaries under the WPS regulation,” Oppedijk observed.

“CBI has always been keen to provide creative banking solutions to its clients. With the implementation of WPS, our corporate clients can rest assure that their workers are provided on-time salary payments through traceable electronic transactions instead of cash or cheque payments,” he added.

WPS is an electronic initiative to oversee safe payment of workers' wages via transfers through selected financial institutions that are authorised and regulated by the government.

The system was developed by the UAE Central Bank to support the ministry in setting up a database of the payment of workers' salaries by the private sector and ensure that the firms pay salaries on time. The system will also help to curb wage-related disputes.

The WPS spares both employers and employees the burden of handling huge amounts of cash. It has been widely acclaimed by workers, social organisations and international bodies, including the International Labour Organisation.-TradeArabia News Service