National Payment Systems Act [Chapter 24:23] (Act No. 21 of 2001)

The National Payment Systems Act [Chapter 24:23] (Act No. 21 of 2001) is the principal statute governing payment, clearing and settlement systems in Zimbabwe and the legal basis for the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe's (RBZ) national-payment-system function. The Act allows for the formulation and implementation of policies to promote the establishment, regulation and oversight of safe, sound and efficient payment, clearing and settlement systems, ensuring that these systems have a sound legal basis and are subject to sound risk-management practices. It applies to operators of payment and settlement systems, participants in those systems, and providers of related payment services. Core obligations include the requirement for participation and operation to occur within the framework recognised and overseen by the Reserve Bank, compliance with the standards, guidelines and directives issued by the Bank, and adherence to oversight and risk-management requirements. A central feature of the Act is the protection of settlement finality and the enforceability of netting arrangements in recognised systems, which provides legal certainty and limits systemic risk, a key concern in Zimbabwe's payment ecosystem. The Reserve Bank, through its National Payment Systems function (established in 1998), maintains the oversight framework, issues guidelines and directives, and monitors systemically important systems. As the umbrella statute, the Act underpins Zimbabwe's retail-payment and mobile-money frameworks; it is complemented by subsidiary instruments and regulations, including the RBZ Guidelines for Retail Payment Systems and Instruments and the Banking (Money Transmission, Mobile Banking and Mobile Money Interoperability) Regulations, that give detailed effect to the licensing and interoperability of mobile money and other digital payment services. The Act remains in force and is the central reference instrument for fintech and digital-payment regulation in Zimbabwe.

1. 1Provides for the establishment, regulation and oversight of payment, clearing and settlement systems by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
2. 2Ensures payment and settlement systems have a sound legal basis and sound risk-management practices
3. 3Protects settlement finality and the enforceability of netting in recognised systems
4. 4Empowers the RBZ to issue guidelines and directives and to oversee systemically important systems
5. 5Underpins Zimbabwe's retail-payment and mobile-money frameworks and related subsidiary instruments