Practice Note for Mobile Money Service Providers (2019)

The Practice Note for Mobile Money Service Providers, issued by the Central Bank of Eswatini (CBE) in March 2019, is the principal supervisory guidance governing the provision of mobile money services in Eswatini. It was issued as part of the CBE's proactive approach to creating an enabling environment for innovation in digital financial services, and it continues to be applied by the Bank to license and supervise mobile money providers pending the finalisation of detailed regulations under the National Payment System Act, 2023. The Practice Note applies to entities that wish to offer mobile money services, setting out the expectations and conditions that providers must meet to be authorised and to operate. It addresses the licensing and onboarding process, requiring applicants to submit core documentation covering ownership, directors, the business model and the proposed mode of operation. The CBE's review is multi-disciplinary: the market-conduct function reviews pricing and the proposed business model, the payments function checks customer-fund protection and trust-account arrangements, and the financial-integrity function reviews anti-money-laundering controls and processes. Core obligations covered by the Note include the safeguarding and protection of customer funds (typically through trust accounts held at a bank, fully backing electronic money issued), governance and fit-and-proper standards, consumer-protection and disclosure expectations, transaction and balance limits proportionate to customer due diligence, AML/CFT compliance, and reporting to the Bank. The Note also reflects the CBE's oversight role, including its power to impose conditions and to supervise providers on an ongoing basis. Sitting beneath the umbrella National Payment System Act, 2023, the Practice Note gives practical content to the licensing and conduct requirements for mobile money and remains the operative reference instrument for this fast-growing segment of Eswatini's payment market.

1. 1Governs the licensing, onboarding and supervision of mobile money service providers by the CBE
2. 2Requires applicants to submit documentation on ownership, directors, business model and mode of operation, reviewed across market-conduct, payments and financial-integrity functions
3. 3Requires safeguarding and protection of customer funds, typically via trust accounts fully backing electronic money issued
4. 4Sets governance, fit-and-proper, consumer-protection and disclosure expectations
5. 5Imposes AML/CFT compliance, transaction/balance limits proportionate to due diligence, and reporting to the Bank
6. 6Continues to apply pending finalisation of detailed regulations under the National Payment System Act, 2023