The Bank of Mozambique has published a new legal framework for the National Payment System covering all participants and other entities conducting payment operations. The law designates the central bank as the system’s authority, with responsibility for licensing operators and regulating, inspecting and supervising all components. Establishing or operating a payment system and providing payment services require prior authorization, while payment products and instruments offered by credit institutions and financial companies must be notified in advance. Authorization decisions are due within 90 days and, once granted, remain valid indefinitely. The framework requires fair and open participation, interoperability, public disclosure of pricing and participation rules, and access to application programming interfaces containing public-interest information. Operators must manage operational, security, credit and liquidity risks, segregate funds, report specified events including cyberattacks, and support settlement finality and insolvency protection. Consumer safeguards include disclosure and complaint-handling duties, refunds for technical failures and verified unauthorized payments, and a ban on charges for transactions not completed because of provider-side failures. The law also permits securities accounts to use blockchain or distributed ledger technology with prior central bank authorization. The Bank of Mozambique must issue further rules on matters including minimum capital, incident-reporting deadlines, complaint procedures, reimbursement periods, cost disclosure and limits, and the truncation of checks and other instruments.
2026-07-16Bank of Mozambique
Bank of Mozambique publishes new National Payment System law expanding licensing, oversight and consumer safeguards
The Bank of Mozambique has published a new National Payment System law expanding its licensing and supervisory powers over payment systems and services. The framework strengthens risk management, settlement finality, interoperability and consumer protections, including refunds and restrictions on charges for failed transactions. Further central bank rules will set detailed capital, reporting, complaints and reimbursement requirements.