Page 15 - Tanzania-Enabling-Mobile-Money-Policies
P. 15
toWardS Greater reGULatorY CertaintY
3
towards greater
regulatory certainty
T anzania’s ‘test and learn’ approach allowed mnos to launch and scale mobile money services based on the guidance provided by
the Bot’s letters of no objection. the Bot maintained close oversight of the services to ensure the industry was sound and safe
for customers, and to develop a better understanding of the business and the operational risk factors and mitigants.
By 2010, the market had reached a certain level of maturity, with four providers and more than 10 million registered mobile money
customers. the exponential increase in the payment system in all spheres – subscribers, usage, volume, and values – made it necessary
for the Bot to consider shifting its regulatory approach to provide certainty and consistency to all market participants. the Bot had
progressively increased its operational knowledge of mobile money and was now in a position to draft regulations that would provide
more legal certainty to providers. the Bot also had to ensure that the regulatory arrangements were in compliance with supporting laws
and regulations, such as the amL/CFt regime. 24
at the same time, the Bot had become sufficiently comfortable with the performance of mobile money and, armed with the lessons of the mar -
ket’s early years, began transforming the original set of requirements into a more formal regulatory framework. While the draft national Pay -
ment Systems a ct was in the promulgation process (and still is), in 2012, the nPSd set out to draft mobile payments regulations for the sector.
the Bot has been open to learning from market implementation and other jurisdictions; in 2010, they visited the Philippines to learn
firsthand how the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas established enabling regulation for banks and non-banks to implement mobile money
deployments. the visit was clearly valuable; the Bot released its first draft regulations for comment in march 2012. the draft regulations
25
allowed for “non-bank based models”, which ensured that non-banks, such as mnos, could continue to receive no objection letters to act
as mobile payments service providers.
this early draft received detailed discussion from national stakeholders and beyond the country’s borders when a panel of regulators
from the alliance for Financial inclusion’s (aFi) mobile Financial Services Working Group conducted a peer review of the regulations in
april 2012. tanzania’s mobile money industry and the GSma participated in the consultative process by submitting detailed feedback on
the regulations, which put forth a number of additional factors for consideration.
in may 2012, the Bot released a new version of the draft mobile Payments regulations, introducing a licensing regime for non-banks
26
intending to provide mobile payments services. Prospective non-bank mobile payments providers will be required to seek a licence as
“wholly owned subsidiary companies”. the regulations maintain the requirement that a trust account be used at a commercial bank to
hold float funds (100% liquidity) and introduce a cap of 25% on the portion of funds that can be kept in a trust account at a single bank.
Licensed providers will be allowed to provide a range of services, including:
i. account to account funds transfers;
ii. Person to Person funds transfer;
iii. Person to Business funds transfer;
iv. Business to Person funds transfer;
v. Business to Business funds transfer;
vi. Cash in and Cash out services.
24. a detailed list of amL/CFt law and regulation in tanzania can be found at: http://www.fiu.go.tz/Legislation.asp
25. alliance for Financial inclusion, “Knowledge exchange insights: the Bank of tanzania Learns from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas on mobile Financial Services”, december 2, 2011. available at:
http://www.afi-global.org/library/publications/knowledge-exchange-insights-bank-tanzania-learns-bangko-sentral-ng-pilipinas
26. in addition to the existing tCra licence required for value added services.
9
3
towards greater
regulatory certainty
T anzania’s ‘test and learn’ approach allowed mnos to launch and scale mobile money services based on the guidance provided by
the Bot’s letters of no objection. the Bot maintained close oversight of the services to ensure the industry was sound and safe
for customers, and to develop a better understanding of the business and the operational risk factors and mitigants.
By 2010, the market had reached a certain level of maturity, with four providers and more than 10 million registered mobile money
customers. the exponential increase in the payment system in all spheres – subscribers, usage, volume, and values – made it necessary
for the Bot to consider shifting its regulatory approach to provide certainty and consistency to all market participants. the Bot had
progressively increased its operational knowledge of mobile money and was now in a position to draft regulations that would provide
more legal certainty to providers. the Bot also had to ensure that the regulatory arrangements were in compliance with supporting laws
and regulations, such as the amL/CFt regime. 24
at the same time, the Bot had become sufficiently comfortable with the performance of mobile money and, armed with the lessons of the mar -
ket’s early years, began transforming the original set of requirements into a more formal regulatory framework. While the draft national Pay -
ment Systems a ct was in the promulgation process (and still is), in 2012, the nPSd set out to draft mobile payments regulations for the sector.
the Bot has been open to learning from market implementation and other jurisdictions; in 2010, they visited the Philippines to learn
firsthand how the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas established enabling regulation for banks and non-banks to implement mobile money
deployments. the visit was clearly valuable; the Bot released its first draft regulations for comment in march 2012. the draft regulations
25
allowed for “non-bank based models”, which ensured that non-banks, such as mnos, could continue to receive no objection letters to act
as mobile payments service providers.
this early draft received detailed discussion from national stakeholders and beyond the country’s borders when a panel of regulators
from the alliance for Financial inclusion’s (aFi) mobile Financial Services Working Group conducted a peer review of the regulations in
april 2012. tanzania’s mobile money industry and the GSma participated in the consultative process by submitting detailed feedback on
the regulations, which put forth a number of additional factors for consideration.
in may 2012, the Bot released a new version of the draft mobile Payments regulations, introducing a licensing regime for non-banks
26
intending to provide mobile payments services. Prospective non-bank mobile payments providers will be required to seek a licence as
“wholly owned subsidiary companies”. the regulations maintain the requirement that a trust account be used at a commercial bank to
hold float funds (100% liquidity) and introduce a cap of 25% on the portion of funds that can be kept in a trust account at a single bank.
Licensed providers will be allowed to provide a range of services, including:
i. account to account funds transfers;
ii. Person to Person funds transfer;
iii. Person to Business funds transfer;
iv. Business to Person funds transfer;
v. Business to Business funds transfer;
vi. Cash in and Cash out services.
24. a detailed list of amL/CFt law and regulation in tanzania can be found at: http://www.fiu.go.tz/Legislation.asp
25. alliance for Financial inclusion, “Knowledge exchange insights: the Bank of tanzania Learns from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas on mobile Financial Services”, december 2, 2011. available at:
http://www.afi-global.org/library/publications/knowledge-exchange-insights-bank-tanzania-learns-bangko-sentral-ng-pilipinas
26. in addition to the existing tCra licence required for value added services.
9
