The National Bank of Georgia has completed the upgrade of its real-time gross settlement, or RTGS, and clearing systems. The new payment infrastructure is fully based on the ISO 20022 standard and is intended to deliver faster, safer and more reliable services for financial institutions and end users, while bringing Georgia’s payment infrastructure closer to international standards. The project required significant infrastructure and technology changes not only at the central bank but also across all commercial banks, microbanks and the State Treasury of the Ministry of Finance. The National Bank described it as the first project of comparable scale in Georgia’s financial sector since 2009. Following recent legislative changes, the upgraded system also technically supports broader access to the payment system infrastructure, allowing non-bank payment service providers to become participants once they meet the relevant requirements. The project was implemented with World Bank support. The new infrastructure is also intended to provide a foundation for future services, including an instant payments system and additional digital services.