Namibia took the lead in the SADC region to discontinue cheques as a payment stream effective 30 June 2019.

The Determination on the Efficiency of the National Payment System (NPS) (PSD-7) came into effect on the 31st December 2014, setting principles which defined efficiency for the National Payment System. With the implementation of PSD-7 and with a system, which no longer matched the efficiency requirements, the industry determined a phasing out strategy.

The Bank of Namibia welcomed the move and to focus on more efficient, cost-effective digital payment systems and methods; and in line with the NPS Vision 2020. SACHA road-map also looked at 2020 as the date for abolishing of cheques in countries as a payment instrument.

A Payment System Revolution for NAMCLEAR and the Banking Industry

Namibia is at the forefront of a global financial system revolution.

The Payment Association of Namibia, in partnership with local banking institutions and Namclear the Automated Clearing House (ACH) implemented a brand new solution, called NamPay.

The new payment solution resulted in a major enhancement to the National Payment System (NPS) for Electronic Fund Transfers (EFT) and impact on all stakeholders directly or indirectly utilizing this service. This has been driven by a legislative need for greater efficiency in the processing of payments in the NPS.

The current EFT system managed by Namclear and the domestic banks is being replaced by a state-of- the-art, internationally recognized messaging standard (ISO-20022) solution that introduces greater efficiency,safety and effective control of the domestic EFT component of the NPS.

NamPay presents an incredible opportunity for the Namibia NPS to be among the most technologically advanced on the continent. It will not only bring Namibia into the mainstream of the digitisation of national payments systems, but will add considerable value to all users of the NPS, and ultimately the Namibian public.This exciting solution will comprise of three new payment streams across debit orders, credit payment transfers, which have already been implemented and near-to-real-time credit payment transfers that will transform all EFT processing in Namibia.

Given the impact that NamPay will have on Namibia as a whole, all banking consumers will be transitioned from using the current system to the new processing standard.The existing system will be decommissioned at the end of June 2021.

SACHA Newsletter June 2020