(Agence Ecofin) Rwanda aims to establish a cashless economy. One of the main obstacles to the realization of this project is the lack of interoperability between the different digital payment services used in the country.
On Thursday, May 26th, RSwitch, a Rwandan payment solutions provider, announced the launch of its eKash platform, in partnership with MTN’s Mobile Money Rwanda Limited and Airtel Money. The objective of this initiative is to facilitate the interoperability of mobile payment services in Rwanda.
Thanks to the platform integration, Rwandans will now be able to send and receive money between the two systems more easily and without additional costs.
The interoperability of digital payment services is part of the Rwandan government’s ambition to create a cashless economy in a context marked by the acceleration of digital transformation. Rwanda’s financial services interoperability has been in the pipeline since 2014. Its implementation was not outsourced to RSwitch by the government until 2019. The system was initially scheduled to be operational before the end of 2019, but the deadline has been pushed back to June 2021 and then to March 2022.
The interoperability of financial services is part of a larger project called the Rwanda National Digital Payment System (RNDPS), which aims to integrate all financial service providers including banks, telecom operators offering mobile payments, microfinance institutions, financial companies and others. The interoperability of mobile payment services should facilitate mobile financial transactions while reducing costs. It will contribute to increasing the financial inclusion of the people of Rwanda.
Isaac Kassi
Read also: 4/3/2021 – Rwanda: Parliament discusses interoperability of mobile financial services
