Law N° 61/2021 of 01/11/2021 governing the Payment System

Law N° 61/2021 of 01/11/2021 governing the Payment System is Rwanda's current primary legislation for payments and the umbrella statute under which the National Bank of Rwanda (BNR) regulates the national payment system. It supersedes the earlier Law N° 03/2010 concerning payment systems, modernising the legal framework to reflect the growth of mobile money, digital payments and fintech and to strengthen the BNR's oversight powers. The Law applies to payment system operators, payment service providers, electronic money issuers and other participants in the payment ecosystem, and confers on the BNR the authority to license, regulate, oversee and supervise these actors and the systems they operate. It empowers the BNR to designate and oversee payment systems, to set standards for safety, efficiency and interoperability, and to issue the subsidiary regulations (on payment service providers, electronic money issuers and the regulatory sandbox) that contain the operational detail. The Law establishes core protections for the integrity of payments, including provisions on settlement finality and the protection of collateral and netting arrangements against insolvency, which are important for systemic stability. It requires the safeguarding of customer and e-money funds, underpins anti-money-laundering and consumer-protection obligations, and provides the BNR with powers of inspection, information-gathering, direction and sanction, including the suspension or revocation of authorisations. By providing the statutory foundation for the licensing of payment service providers and e-money issuers and for the BNR's payment-system oversight, the Law is the backbone of Rwanda's fintech and digital-payments regulatory perimeter, consistent with the country's ambition to become a largely cashless, digitally-enabled economy.

1. 1Current primary payments statute; supersedes Law N° 03/2010 concerning payment systems
2. 2Empowers the BNR to license, regulate, oversee and supervise payment systems, PSPs and e-money issuers
3. 3Designation and oversight of payment systems; standards for safety, efficiency and interoperability
4. 4Settlement finality and protection of collateral/netting against insolvency
5. 5Safeguarding of customer and e-money funds; AML and consumer-protection basis
6. 6Enabling power for subsidiary regulations (PSPs, e-money issuers, regulatory sandbox); BNR inspection, direction and sanction powers