TEHRAN -- Financial technology (fintech) will be used as a part of internet business in the country in coming three months, Communications and Information Technology Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi wrote on his Twitter account on Thursday.

As per an approval by the cabinet of ministers, the central bank is obliged to end PSP (Payment Service Provider) monopoly and create a competitive space for fintech market, the tweet reads.

Up to now, the internet finance in Iran was PSP-based, which offers shops online services for accepting electronic payments by a variety of payment methods including credit card and bank-based payments.

Fintech is a portmanteau of financial technology that describes an emerging financial services sector in the 21st century. 

Originally, the term applied to technology applied to the back-end of established consumer and trade financial institutions. Since the end of the first decade of the 21st century, the term has expanded to include any technological innovation in the financial sector, including innovations in financial literacy and education, retail banking, investment and even crypto-currencies like bitcoin.

SB/MQ/MG