The Bank of Mozambique issued a notice expanding the information that regulated entities must submit for the central bank’s compilation of statistics on securities, the banking network, credit and deposits, the external sector and the National Payment System, revoking the prior 2020 framework. It also published guiding directives requiring credit institutions, financial companies and microfinance operators to approve, implement and report on a policy for equitable access to and use of financial products and services, with a focus on women’s financial inclusion. The statistical reporting notice applies to credit institutions and financial companies, National Payment System participants and legal entities subject to foreign exchange rules, and requires data covering securities issuances, transactions and positions (including client portfolios under custody or management), branch and agent networks (including geospatial location details), ATM and POS footprints and transaction metrics, customer and account volumes (including basic or simplified accounts), cards, mobile and internet banking usage, electronic money accounts and agents, intrabank transactions, SWIFT message flows and remittances, and operational and integrity indicators such as service downtime, transaction failures, rejected transactions and payment fraud. The equitable-access directives place responsibility on the institution’s management body to approve and oversee implementation, require designation of a “Women Champion”, set minimum policy content (including targets and indicators), and call for product and service design that incorporates gender-disaggregated data and supports digital access, simplified account opening and more accessible credit. Under the equitable-access directives, institutions must publish an annual monitoring report on their websites and submit it to the Bank of Mozambique by 31 March each year, while the central bank will publish an annual consolidated progress report. The directives enter into force 90 days after publication, and breaches are sanctionable under the credit institutions and financial companies law.
Bank of Mozambique 2025-10-21
Bank of Mozambique expands statistical data submission requirements and mandates annual reporting on gender-equitable access policies
The Bank of Mozambique has expanded reporting requirements for regulated entities to improve statistics on securities, banking, credit, deposits, the external sector, and the National Payment System, replacing the 2020 framework. New directives mandate credit institutions, financial companies, and microfinance operators to implement policies for equitable access to financial services, emphasizing women's financial inclusion. These directives require annual reporting and designate a "Women Champion" to oversee policy implementation, with sanctions for non-compliance.