Fintech & digital payments rules in South Sudan (2026)

The Bank of South Sudan is the licensing and supervisory authority for payments and e-money, deriving its mandate from the Bank of South Sudan Act, 2011, and exercising it through the Electronic Money Regulation, 2017.

The Electronic Money Regulation, 2017 sets licensing conditions for electronic-money issuers, covering authorization, AML/CFT obligations, and consumer protection; it is the operative framework for digital payments today.

m-Gurush became the first BoSS/NCA-licensed mobile-money service (2019), followed by MTN MoMo (operational license from January 2024) and Digicash, confirming the regime is operational rather than merely on paper.

In 2025 the Bank of South Sudan reaffirmed that mobile money carries the same legal validity as cash and bank transfers under the 2017 Regulation, directing businesses to accept electronic payments, as part of its 2023–2027 strategic plan to raise e-money usage to 30% of adults.

Because the leading services are telco-led, providers must be licensed by both BoSS (financial side) and the National Communications Authority (telecom and agent-network side), requiring coordination between the two regulators.

There is no dedicated comprehensive fintech law, no general payment-institution/PSP regime, no open-banking framework, no published instant-payment rail, and no BNPL-specific rules; data protection is also undeveloped, leaving the wider fintech space governed only by the e-money rules plus general banking law.