# Buna > Source: https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/buna > research date 2026-06-03 · extracted at 2026-10-06 > Publisher: Barcoder — encyclopedia of QR, barcode and payment-code standards Specifications: - [Buna — official site](https://buna.co/) - [Buna (payment system) — Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buna_(payment_system)) - [BUNA — Central Bank of the UAE](https://www.centralbank.ae/en/our-operations/payments-and-settlements/buna-arab-regional-payment-system/) ## Overview **Buna** is a cross-border, **multi-currency payment system** for the Arab region and its trading partners, established by the **Arab Monetary Fund (AMF)**. It is operated by the **Arab Regional Payments Clearing and Settlement Organization (ARPCSO)**, a company based in **Abu Dhabi** and fully owned by the AMF [2][2][4][4]. Buna lets central banks and commercial banks send and receive cross-border payments in both **regional and international currencies** in a compliant, lower-cost and faster environment than traditional correspondent banking [1][1][4][4]. Like PAPSS, Buna is a settlement/clearing rail rather than a QR symbology: it is the multi-currency infrastructure beneath bank and instant-payment flows in the Arab region. ## History - **2018** — The initiative was launched as the **Arab Regional Payment System (ARPS)** by the Arab Monetary Fund [2][2]. - **February 2020** — The system was officially launched and rebranded **Buna** at the World Governments Summit period; it is operated under the **ARPCSO** framework [3][3][5][5]. - **6 November 2023** — Buna's **payment-versus-payment (PvP)** FX functionality went into use between **Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB)** and **Jordan Ahli Bank** [2][2]. - **2025** — **Syria** acceded to Buna, allowing its financial institutions to settle in Arab and international currencies more efficiently [4][4]. Buna sits within the wider Arab Monetary Fund, which has **22 member countries**, providing the institutional and regulatory umbrella for the system [3][3]. ## Technical specification Buna is a **real-time gross settlement (RTGS)**-style multi-currency platform supporting **payment-versus-payment (PvP)** FX settlement [2][2][4][4]: - **Currencies** — Buna supports **six currencies**: four regional currencies — the **Emirati dirham (AED), Egyptian pound (EGP), Jordanian dinar (JOD) and Saudi riyal (SAR)** — and two global currencies, the **euro (EUR)** and **US dollar (USD)**. Participants are not required to be active in all six; an institution chooses the currencies it wants and opens accounts accordingly [3][3]. - **PvP settlement** — FX transactions can be settled in any pair of the supported currencies, with both legs exchanged simultaneously to remove settlement risk [2][2]. - **Operating hours** — the platform operates **six days a week (Sunday to Friday)** [3][3]. - **Compliance** — Buna selected an LSEG/Refinitiv solution as a compliance/screening provider, reflecting an emphasis on AML/sanctions screening built into the rail [5][5]. - **Governance** — owned and operated by ARPCSO, fully owned by the Arab Monetary Fund and headquartered in Abu Dhabi; leadership has been led by AMF-appointed officials [2][2][4][4]. The system reduces transaction times "from days to minutes" and lowers operational costs for banks compared with multi-hop correspondent routing [4][4]. ## Use cases - **Inter-Arab settlement** — clearing and settling financial transactions between Arab countries [1][1][4][4]. - **Trade with partners** — settling transactions between Arab countries and their main trading partners using EUR and USD alongside the regional currencies [3][3]. - **Cross-border bank payments and FX** — banks settle cross-border payments and execute FX in any supported currency pair via PvP [2][2][3][3]. ## Implementations Connectivity is measured by participating institutions rather than code: - **Six currencies** supported (AED, EGP, JOD, SAR, EUR, USD) [3][3]. - **Over 100 financial institutions** onboarded since inception [3][3]. - Named participants include **Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Jordan Ahli Bank and Saudi British Bank (SABB)** [3][3]. - Underpinned by the Arab Monetary Fund's **22 member countries**, with new national accessions such as **Syria in 2025** [3][3][4][4]. ## Comparison Buna is the Arab-region counterpart to Africa's **PAPSS**: both are regional, multi-currency clearing/settlement systems owned by regional financial institutions (Arab Monetary Fund vs Afreximbank/AU). The principal differences are scope and currency set — Buna settles a fixed basket of regional and global currencies (including EUR and USD) for the Arab region with explicit PvP FX, while PAPSS focuses on netting **African** local currencies for the AfCFTA bloc [3][3][4][4]. Both are distinct from **Nexus**, which interlinks national *instant retail* payment systems globally via a single multilateral connection, and from the **ASEAN RPC**, which is a QR-acceptance and fast-payment coordination umbrella rather than a settlement engine [2][2][4][4]. ## Fun facts - Buna's PvP design means a euro-for-dirham or dollar-for-riyal exchange settles both legs at the same moment, eliminating the "Herstatt" settlement-risk window that plagues conventional cross-currency settlement [2][2]. ## Status Buna is **live**. It launched in February 2020, activated PvP FX settlement between its first banks on 6 November 2023, supports six currencies across more than 100 financial institutions, and continued to add national members in 2025 (including Syria) [2][2][3][3][4][4]. No single consolidated public transaction-volume figure was confirmed in the sources reviewed, but the platform is in production six days a week [3][3]. ## Sources [1] [Buna — official site](https://buna.co/) — Arab Regional Payments Clearing and Settlement Organization, 2025 [2] [Buna (payment system)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buna_(payment_system)) — Wikipedia, accessed 2026 [3] [Buna (payment system) — currencies, institutions and AMF membership](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buna_(payment_system)) — Wikipedia / Arab Monetary Fund, 2025 [4] [Syria Joins Arab Monetary Fund's BUNA Payment Platform](https://levant24.com/news/international/2025/10/syria-joins-arab-monetary-funds-buna-payment-platform/) — Levant24, October 2025 [5] [Arab Monetary Fund Selects Refinitiv as Compliance Provider for Buna](https://www.refinitiv.com/en/media-center/press-releases/2020/november/arab-monetary-fund-selects-refinitiv-as-compliance-provider-for-buna-the-first-cross-border-payment-system-in-the-arab-region) — LSEG/Refinitiv, November 2020 [1]: https://buna.co/ [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buna_(payment_system) [3]: https://www.centralbank.ae/en/our-operations/payments-and-settlements/buna-arab-regional-payment-system/ [4]: https://levant24.com/news/international/2025/10/syria-joins-arab-monetary-funds-buna-payment-platform/ [5]: https://www.refinitiv.com/en/media-center/press-releases/2020/november/arab-monetary-fund-selects-refinitiv-as-compliance-provider-for-buna-the-first-cross-border-payment-system-in-the-arab-region ## Deployments _No country reports mention this standard by name._ ## Regions / aggregations not mapped to a single country - Arab region