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Central bank’s payment system records milestone settlement value of N$ 1 trillion

Central bank’s payment system records milestone settlement value of N$ 1 trillion

The Bank of Namibia’s interbank settlement system (NISS) which processes and settles time-critical payments, has, for the first time, recorded a settlement value of N$ 1 trillion during the year 2021 due to high volumes.

The hallmark milestone celebrates Namibia’s secure, reliable, and modern payment system. Interbank transactions settled in the System constitute retail payments such as electronic funds transfer (EFTs) and Payment Card transactions cleared through Namclear and single-item large-value transactions processed by the participants in the System.

In 2021, the aggregate settlement value recorded in the NISS stood at N$1.050 trillion. In this regard, the share of single transactions settled in the NISS amounted to N$726.4 billion, which translates to 69% of the total value settled. While the retail payment transactions cleared through Namclear were N$323.9 billion, representing 31% of the aggregate value settled.

Kazembire Zemburuka, acting director of strategic communications at the Bank said although the single item large value transactions contributed the most to the milestone settlement value, the retail transactions also contributed significantly, from a payment stream perspective.

In particular, the EFT stream composed 94.13% of the total retail payment value settled. Of the total retail payment transaction value, the Enhanced Credits which is part of NAMPAY contributed 52.37% of the total retail payments settled, while the Same-day payment stream contributed 36.43%.

“This reflects the industry’s efforts towards the decommissioning of the old EFT streams in line with the regulatory requirements to promote efficiency in the processing of payments in the NPS. Equally important to note, the share of payment card stream in relation to the total retail payments was 5.87%,” Zemburuka said.

The highest settlement values recorded to date can be ascribed to high volumes of the new domestic EFT system streams (NAMPAY), the utilisation of the lending facilities, specifically the 7 Day repo of the Bank, the purchase/resell of government securities; and inflows of funds to comply with Regulation 28 by the Namibia Financial Institutions Supervisory Authority (NAMFISA).


 

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Donald Matthys

Donald Matthys has been part of the media fraternity since 2015. He has been working at the Namibia Economist for the past three years mainly covering business, tourism and agriculture. Donald occasionally refers to himself as a theatre maker and has staged two theatre plays so far. Follow him on twitter at @zuleitmatthys