14 June 2019

The Ugandan government is drafting a new law in which it will transfer regulation of mobile money services to the country’s central bank.

Speaking at a two-day public consultative in Jinja last month, Bank of Uganda (BoU) deputy governor Louis Kasekende, said the new law, will give the central bank the sole responsibility of regulating mobile money and payment services in the country.

“We currently share the responsibility of regulating mobile money with UCC (Uganda Communication Commission),” he said. “But there is a new law that is in offing, the National Payments Bill that will assign the regulatory role of mobile money services to central bank,” he said.

The National Payments Bill will seek to streamline Uganda’s payment system in which government it seeking to reduce cash payments by at least 2022.

Kasekende said for a long time there has not been any specific law to regulate mobile money services, which has allowed telecom companies to introduce different financial products although it is not their core mandate.

Currently, mobile money services are regulated through a shared responsibility that is governed by BoU and UCC.

Although the central bank has the sole responsibility of regulating financial services, the financial services offered by telecoms have remained largely unregulated given that they are offered by non-financial institutions.