RBZ: Plans for Unified QR Payment System Underway

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) is currently in discussions with NPCI International Payments Ltd (NIPL), the international arm of India’s National Payments Corporation, to deploy India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) technology as the foundation for Zimbabwe’s National Payments Digital Public Infrastructure, with a deadline of October 31 set to conclude a deal. Governor John Mushayavanhu highlighted that despite technological advancements, payments in Zimbabwe remain slow, fragmented, and costly, and the proposed platform aims to address these inefficiencies by complementing, rather than replacing, existing payment infrastructure. The initiative seeks to provide common, real-time rails for banks, mobile money operators, payment service providers, fintechs, and other regulated participants to connect and transact, with a principal objective of improving the affordability of digital payments. No agreement has yet been reached, and the outcome of these discussions is not yet reported.