Mozambican financial institutions will have 60 minutes to report payment service failures to the Bank of Mozambique, according to new rules applicable to the National Single Network for electronic payments, to which they are now legally required to be connected.
The obligation, outlined in a central bank notice that comes into force within 90 days and was accessed today by Lusa, applies to credit institutions, financial companies, and the network operator alike. It mandates that they must “report to the Bank of Mozambique, up to 60 minutes after the occurrence, any payment service unavailability lasting longer than 10 minutes.”
In addition to reporting failures, the new framework dated June 2 imposes continuous monitoring of system connections, establishing that entities must provide the central bank with “real-time information regarding their connection status to the National Single Network.”
In the same notice, the Bank of Mozambique states that it is “necessary to reinforce the rules regarding information mechanisms for the operation and implementation of connecting the internal banking transaction management systems of credit institutions and financial companies to the National Single Network.”
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These measures, the regulator argues, aim to “strengthen the rules” governing how banking systems link to the national network “in a context of growing electronic media use and the need for greater control over service availability and security.”
The National Single Network functions as a common, shared infrastructure that centralizes the processing of electronic transactions in the country, including operations with cards, terminals, and digital channels. It has been operated by SIMOrede since 2023 under the management and control of the Bank of Mozambique.
Connection to this single network is now a mandatory requirement for operations. The decree dictates that institutions must ensure this integration “as a condition to start offering electronic payment products and services,” including mobile financial services.
The measure covers the entire payment infrastructure, requiring that electronic payment terminals “be installed through the National Single Network,” thereby centralizing the processing of operations performed at ATMs, point-of-sale (POS) terminals, and other electronic channels.
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Regarding service availability, institutions are required to keep their systems connected for a minimum daily period, stating they must “maintain a minimum state or period of connection per day for their respective internal systems” to “guarantee the availability of electronic payment services.”
The framework also introduces obligations for incident management and operational risk, requiring the network operator to create procedures for the “detection, classification, response, and reporting of severe operational and security incidents or those with a systemic impact.”
These mechanisms must be reviewed periodically, with the decree determining that the incident management framework be updated “at least once a year” based on system risks and threats.
Furthermore, institutions must maintain business continuity and disaster recovery plans, featuring mandatory annual testing whose results must be communicated to the central bank.
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The rollout of new services will also depend on the central network, establishing that electronic payment products and services “must be implemented within the National Single Network,” leaving it to the operator to coordinate their integration and launch.
For entities already operating, a three-month deadline has been set to integrate or migrate existing terminals to the network, standardizing the payment system at a national level. Non-compliance with the new rules will constitute an infraction and a “punishable misdemeanor” under the applicable financial sector legislation.
