Press Release No. : 18/2022
Date : 11 October 2022
With the coming into effect of the National Payment System Act 2021 (“Act”) and the National Payment System Regulations 2022 (“Regulations”) from 30 September 2022, the Reserve Bank of Fiji wishes to advise the general public that pursuant to Section 13(1) of the Act, “any person seeking to provide a payment service or operate a payment system must apply in writing to the Reserve Bank for a licence to provide the payment service or operate the payment system.”
The following clarifications are provided in this regard:
(i) That in commencing the initial licensing phase as required under the Act and the Regulations, licensing of payment service providers is activity-based, accorded to one or more activity as outlined in the Act and the Regulations.
(ii) Entities conducting e-money issuance, merchant acquiring, domestic money transfer, cross-border money transfer, and account issuance services should apply for a payment service provider licence, and will be subject to regulatory oversight by the Reserve Bank.
(iii) In accordance with Section 15(7) of the Act, entities that would be providing some form of a payment service but are exempted from being licensed under the Act and the Regulations, are listed as follows:
- commercial banks licensed under the Banking Act 1995;
- restricted foreign exchange dealers licensed under the Exchange Control Act 1985;
- entities that issue single purpose payment instruments or whose payment instrument can be used within its group of companies;
- entities that operate a closed loop merchant acquiring service; and
- fuel card issuers.
(iv) While the entities in (iii) above are exempted from licensing, they would still be required to comply with oversight requirements as deemed appropriate by the Reserve Bank, in compliance with Section 15(8) of the Act.
(v) Any entity wishing to conduct business in Fiji as a payment service provider or operate a payment system and may not be clear with the requirement to be licensed or exempted under the Act, must contact the Reserve Bank for necessary advice.