Fintech & digital payments rules in eSwatini (2026)

The National Payment Systems Act, 2023 sets out the CBE's oversight powers and the obligations of payment system providers, participants and others in the value chain. It is enacted and published on the CBE's site, establishing the legal basis for licensing.

The CBE is the sole regulator; all institutions participating in the Eswatini Payment System are licensed by the CBE as Payment Service Providers. Applicants submit ownership, director, business-model and operational documents, with internal review by market conduct, payments (customer-fund/trust-account protection) and financial-integrity (AML) units.

The CBE is still finalizing detailed regulations under the 2023 Act spelling out timelines and documentation, and for now licenses mobile money providers under CBE mobile money guidelines. The market has roughly four banks and three mobile money operators (e.g., MTN MoMo, Instacash, E-mali).

The CBE's Eswatini Payment Switch Fast Payment Module launched on 11 December 2024, enabling real-time, all-to-all interoperable payments across banks and non-banks; initial participants included Eswatini Bank, Swaziland Building Society and E-mali. Over E800 million had been processed within its first months.

Open Banking (along with POS and ATM switching) is slated as a later phase of the national Payment Switch project — it is planned/under development rather than an enacted, operational framework today.

The CBE maintains a dedicated Fintech Unit and a regulatory sandbox for live testing of innovative payment products. No specific buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) licensing or conduct regime was identified; BNPL is not separately regulated and would fall under general PSP/credit oversight.