Multinational - East African Community - Payment and Settlement Systems Integration Project

The East African Community (EAC) Payment and Settlement Systems Integration Project (PSIP) is aimed at creating a robust regional environment of integrated wholesale and retail payment and settlement systems that will improve the efficiency of cross-border remittance transfers, as well as strengthening the regulatory and legislative capacity of the financial sector in EAC partner states. It is based on a set of interventions and measures aimed at ensuring that : (i) the smooth functioning and integration of real-time gross settlement (RTGS) systems, retail payment and settlement systems, central securities depositories and core banking platforms in the region; (ii) the satisfactory functioning of the supporting infrastructure, including business continuity and disaster recovery platforms; (iii) harmonized national legislation, regulations and policies to integrate adequate supporting pillars of payment and settlement systems (PSS) within the EAC to protect payment flows. These include the adoption of common provisions on "failure to settle", the "oversight framework and policy", the on-site inspection scheme in accordance with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Core Principles for Systemically Important Payment Systems, the regulatory provisions on payment instruments and collateral levels ; capacity building and support for a useful set of skills in specific areas of SSSs for the EAC project core team, national central banks (NCBs), commercial banks, judges and other stakeholders and regulators. It is expected to be implemented over 4 years at an estimated total cost of UA 15 million.