# One national payment system

> Somalia now has one national instant payment system, SIPS, with a single QR code standard, SOMQR, that went live in 2025 with 7 banks.

Source page: https://calankii.com/en/forces/one-national-payment-system/
Last checked: 2026-11-12
Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com)

## The force

For years Somalia's mobile wallets and banks did not easily talk to each other. A national payment system changes that: money can move instantly between any bank or wallet, using one shared QR code.

## Inside the country

- **SIPS went live in January 2025** and was announced on 24 March 2025. It runs 24 hours a day and includes the national QR code standard SOMQR, PIN and one-time-password checks and fraud controls. Seven banks were live at launch ([BPC](https://www.bpcbt.com/en/press/somalia-launches-first-nationwide-instant-payment-system-powered-by-bpc)).
- **Who runs it.** Somalia Payment Switch, set up by the Central Bank of Somalia and 13 banks ([Eastleigh Voice](https://eastleighvoice.co.ke/somalia/383521/somalia-to-expand-instant-payment-system-with-banks-mobile-money-and-regional-networks)).
- **What comes next.** The plan covers 14 commercial banks and 8 mobile money and e-wallet providers. Payments between people and to shops work now; payments from businesses to people, to government and to other businesses are being built ([Eastleigh Voice](https://eastleighvoice.co.ke/somalia/383521/somalia-to-expand-instant-payment-system-with-banks-mobile-money-and-regional-networks)).
- **An earlier system** set up in 2021 processed more than $1 billion in its first year ([African Business](https://african.business/2025/08/african-banker/reforming-somalias-banking-sector-amid-crisis-and-opportunity)).

## Beyond the border

Somalia joined PAPSS, the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System, which lets African countries pay each other in their own currencies. The Somali Bankers Association announced it on 18 April 2026 ([SBA](https://sba.so/somalia-joins-papss.php)); TechCabal dates the formal joining to March 2026 ([TechCabal](https://techcabal.com/2026/06/19/techcabal-daily-somalias-accidental-bank/)).

## The wider money system

The Central Bank has licensed 15 commercial banks ([Goobjoog](https://en.goobjoog.com/central-bank-of-somalia-licenses-15-banks-strengthens-financial-oversight)) and approved the first 7 microfinance licences in November 2025 ([Central Bank Annual Report 2025](https://centralbank.gov.so/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Annual-Report_2025.pdf)). An IFC project is building a credit information system and collateral registry with the Central Bank ([IFC project record](https://ewsdata.rightsindevelopment.org/projects/IFC-607334/)). In Somaliland, the central bank has started its own national payment programme.

## Outside the country

India's UPI shows what one shared system can do: 21.7 billion phone payments between any banks in January 2026 alone ([Government of India, PIB](https://static.pib.gov.in/WriteReadData/specificdocs/documents/2026/mar/doc202636812701.pdf)).

## What is not known yet

How many mobile wallets were connected to SIPS in 2026 was not confirmed in our research.

## What it means for young Somalis

One QR code that works with every bank and wallet means a small shop, a tutor or a freelancer can be paid by anyone, and one day by customers across Africa.

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