Bank of Uganda has commenced licensing of payment system operators, payment service providers and issuers of payment instruments.
Payment service providers – also known as merchant service providers or PSPs – are third parties that help merchants accept payments.
The licensing of payment service providers follows the enactment of the National Payment Systems (NPS) Act, 2020 on 4th September, 2020 and the gazetting of the NPS Implementing Regulations on 5th March, 2021,
“Pursuant to Section 9 of the National Payment Systems Act, 2020 and Regulation 3 of the National Payment Systems Regulations, 2021, Bank of Uganda has issued licences to Airtel Mobile Commerce Uganda Limited and MTN Mobile Money Uganda Limited,” BoU said in a statement on Friday, May 21, 2021.
In addition, M/s Wave Transfer Limited received the Bank of Uganda’s approval to operate under the Regulatory Sandbox Framework, pursuant to Section 16 of the National Payment Systems Act, 2020 and Regulation 5 of the National Payment Systems (Sandbox) Regulations, 2021.
Ugandan enterprises urged to explore regional oil and gas opportunitiesProf Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile, the Governor, said Bank of Uganda will continue to support the development of a vibrant and resilient payments eco-system that promotes economic growth.
The payment systems in Uganda are classified into three broad areas. The first is systems operated by the Bank of Uganda and they include; Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS), Automated Clearing House (ACH) System and Central Securities Depository (CSD). The second is Payment services provided by the Commercial Banks, which include CSD by Uganda Securities Exchange, Internet Banking, E-money providers like Mobile money telecommunication companies, ATMs Provided by Commercial Banks and POS provided by commercial banks and merchants.
The third system is offered by Private sector, and includes E-money providers like Mobile money telecommunication companies, Single purpose stored value cards, e-commerce, aggregators/ integrators and remittance companies like western union.
