PREPARATIONS for the launch of Tanzania Instant Payment System (TIPS), which is set to significantly reduce the cost of mobile money transactions and other digital financial services, is now at advanced stages, the Central Bank Governor, Prof Florens Luoga has said.
Prof Luoga said in Arusha yesterday that the interoperable payment system was part of the measures to help lower cost of mobile money transaction and drive financial inclusion growth.
“We’re in advanced stages of launching Tanzania Instant Payment System that will revolutionise the payment system and mobile transaction cost will be reduced considerably,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the 2022 meetings of the African Financial Inclusion Policy Initiative (AfPI) and AfPI Leaders’ Roundtable in Arusha.
TIPS will be an interoperable digital payment platform to be operated by the Bank of Tanzania. It will allow the transfer of payments between different Digital Financial Service Providers (DFSPs), both banks and non-banks such as electronic money issuers.
The system will handle real-time payments exchanged among participating Digital Financial Service Providers (DFSPs).
He said banks have already started using the system that is set to boost financial inclusion by improving access and usage of financial services through promoting the interoperability of digital financial services amongst all Payment Service Providers (PSPs) in the country.
The TIPS platform facilitates an efficient clearing and settlement platform of digital financial services transactions for all Payment Service Providers (PSPs).
It will also increase the efficiency by moving from bilateral interoperability to multilateral interoperability.
Bank of Tanzania and Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) co-hosted the 2022 meetings of the African Financial Inclusion Policy Initiative (AfPI) and AfPI Leaders’ Roundtable in Arusha from Monday to Thursday.
The meetings of AFI members in Africa focused on how digitisation of inclusive finance could ensure stability, growth and sustainability.
Governors and deputy governors shared policy solutions that drive digital financial inclusion and remove barriers faced by the region’s vulnerable groups such as women, youths, micro, small and medium size enterprises (MSMEs) and other disproportionately excluded communities.