Digital Payments & Fintech · Congo
Fintech & digital payments rules in Congo (2026)
Congo shaded by its digital payments & fintech status
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has a functioning but incomplete digital-payments licensing regime anchored in the Banque Centrale du Congo (BCC), which authorises banks, electronic-money institutions (EMIs), and payment-service providers (PSPs). Key building blocks are in place—including BCC Instruction No. 24 for e-money establishments and BCC Instruction No. 58 (2024) mandating full interoperability via a National Monetary Switch—yet a national interbank instant-payment platform was still pending launch as of early 2026, open banking lacks a formal framework, and a crypto/digital-asset licensing law remained in draft. Note: 'Congo' is ambiguous—the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville) is a separate jurisdiction regulated under the regional BEAC/COBAC framework within CEMAC.
Key points
The BCC is the sole authority licensing banks, microfinance institutions, EMIs, and PSPs in the DRC. BCC Instruction No. 24 governs electronic-money establishment conditions and approval criteria; Instruction No. 53 covers detailed PSP licensing requirements.
Issued September 2024, BCC Instruction No. 58 requires all licensed banks, microfinance institutions, and payment operators to connect to the National Monetary Switch (Switch Monétique National), ensuring interoperability across mobile-money wallets (M-Pesa, Airtel Money, Orange Money) and card networks.
The IMF and BCC targeted end-March 2026 for the launch of a national interbank electronic-payments platform enabling real-time transfers across banks and mobile-money providers; this infrastructure gap had not yet been filled as of early 2026.
In March 2026 the DRC introduced a new digital-services licensing framework—administered transitionally by the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (ARPTC)—covering fintech firms, online banking platforms, cloud services, and app stores; operators had until 30 June 2026 to obtain five-year renewable authorisations, with full enforcement from 1 July 2026.
A draft digital-asset law was under inter-ministerial review in late 2025 to create a licensing framework for exchanges and token issuers; it had not been enacted as of mid-2026, leaving crypto-related payment services in a legal grey zone.
The DRC has no enacted open-banking framework and no specific BNPL product rules as of 2026; the BCC is developing consumer-protection standards for digital financial services, but comprehensive data-sharing and credit-product regulation remains undeveloped.
Congo - other topics
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