Mobile Money Service Provider — Eswatini
The Eswatini category mapped to e-money issuance.
Regulator: Central Bank of Eswatini.
The Central Bank of Eswatini's Mobile Money Service Provider (MMSP) licence class — the e-money issuance category under the National Payment Systems Act, 2023 (PSPs are licensed under s.22) and the Practice Note for Mobile Money Service Providers (No. 1/2019/NPSS), which governs the issuance of mobile money / e-money by supervised and non-supervised institutions. No standing register of licensed MMSPs is published on centralbank.org.sz: the Practice Note (11.5) provides that licensed MMSPs are announced individually by public notice, so the coverage state is report-the-unavailability (metrics/universe.json register_unavailable, the CD-BCC-SWITCH exemplar) — the D1 licence requirements are published (what it takes), but no named-licensee facts are minted from an unpublished register. The requirements below (90-day decision window, trust account, place of business in Eswatini, and the officially-stated no-capital-for-non-supervised structural absence) are the honest record.
Maintained: this official source is re-checked on a weekly schedule — last checked 2026-08-04 · unchanged since the previous check.
Licence requirements
What it takes to hold this licence, as stated in the cited official instruments. Capital and fees are shown in the currency the statute itself uses.
| Requirement | As published | Source | Source date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum capital | No such requirement: The Practice Note officially states that for a non-supervised mobile money service provider there is no capital requirement (capital requirements apply only to institutions supervised by the Bank under the Financial Institutions Act, unless directed otherwise). A rare officially-stated structural absence — the answer is "no capital requirement". | Practice Note for Mobile Money Service Providers (No. 1/2019/NPSS) — art. 6 (documentation / place of business), art. 9 (trust account), art. 11 (decision on licence, 90-day window; annual renewal), Capital Requirements section, art. 12 (fees) | 2019-03 |
| Local presence / incorporation | An applicant must provide an authenticated copy of its memorandum of incorporation and articles of association and state the location of its principal place and other places of business in the Kingdom of Eswatini. Verbatim“The location of the principal place and other places of business in the Kingdom of Eswatini” | Practice Note for Mobile Money Service Providers (No. 1/2019/NPSS) — art. 6 (documentation / place of business), art. 9 (trust account), art. 11 (decision on licence, 90-day window; annual renewal), Capital Requirements section, art. 12 (fees) | 2019-03 |
| Timeline | The Bank shall, within ninety (90) days after the receipt of an application (or of any further information required), notify the applicant in writing of the grant or refusal of a licence — a statutory decision window. Verbatim“The Bank shall, within ninety (90) days after the receipt of an application, or if further information has been required, after the receipt of such information, notify the applicant in writing either of the grants or refusal of a license.” | Practice Note for Mobile Money Service Providers (No. 1/2019/NPSS) — art. 6 (documentation / place of business), art. 9 (trust account), art. 11 (decision on licence, 90-day window; annual renewal), Capital Requirements section, art. 12 (fees) | 2019-03 |
| Local ownership | No such requirement: The Practice Note imposes no local-shareholding or nationality cap on a mobile money service provider. | Practice Note for Mobile Money Service Providers (No. 1/2019/NPSS) — art. 6 (documentation / place of business), art. 9 (trust account), art. 11 (decision on licence, 90-day window; annual renewal), Capital Requirements section, art. 12 (fees) | 2019-03 |
| Fees | Not officially published: A non-refundable licence or authorization fee is payable on grant and on each renewal, and an annual regulatory fee applies; for a non-supervised institution the licence fee is determined by the Bank — no figure is published in the Practice Note. | Practice Note for Mobile Money Service Providers (No. 1/2019/NPSS) — art. 6 (documentation / place of business), art. 9 (trust account), art. 11 (decision on licence, 90-day window; annual renewal), Capital Requirements section, art. 12 (fees) | 2019-03 |
| Ongoing obligations | An MMSP must open and maintain a trust account and ensure that the balance in the trust account is at all times equal to the total outstanding (unclaimed) balance of all e-money holders, ring-fenced from creditors on the holding bank's insolvency; the licence is subject to annual renewal. Verbatim“A MMSP shall ensure that the balance in the trust account shall at all times be equal to the total outstanding (un-claimed) balance of all holders of the e-money under the service.” | Practice Note for Mobile Money Service Providers (No. 1/2019/NPSS) — art. 6 (documentation / place of business), art. 9 (trust account), art. 11 (decision on licence, 90-day window; annual renewal), Capital Requirements section, art. 12 (fees) | 2019-03 |
Requirements as published in the cited instruments — not legal or compliance advice. Where a value is located but not yet verified, we show that it exists but don't publish the figure. Verify directly with the regulator.
The equivalent in other markets
Categories mapped to the same normalized activity —
fintech:EMONEY_ISSUE:
- → Mobile Money Operator Licence Category (Nigeria)
- → E-Money Issuer (Kenya)
- → Small E-Money Issuer (Kenya)
- → Dedicated Electronic Money Issuer (Ghana)
- → Electronic Money Issuer (Tanzania)
- → Electronic Money Issuer (Uganda)
- → Electronic Money Institution (Zambia)
- → E-Money Issuer (Rwanda)
- → Établissement de monnaie électronique (Benin)
- → Établissement de monnaie électronique (Burkina Faso)
- → Établissement de monnaie électronique (Côte d'Ivoire)
- → Établissement de monnaie électronique (Guinea-Bissau)
- → Établissement de monnaie électronique (Mali)
- → Établissement de monnaie électronique (Niger)
- → Établissement de monnaie électronique (Senegal)
- → Établissement de monnaie électronique (Togo)
- → Payment Instrument Issuer (Ethiopia)
- → Établissement de paiement (Cameroon)
- → Établissement de paiement (Central African Republic)
- → Établissement de paiement (Congo-Brazzaville)
- → Établissement de paiement (Gabon)
- → Établissement de paiement (Equatorial Guinea)
- → Établissement de paiement (Chad)
- → Établissement de paiement offrant des produits et services de paiement (Morocco)
- → Mobile Financial Services (mobile money) (Zimbabwe)
- → Établissement de monnaie électronique (DR Congo)
- → Instituição de moeda electrónica (Mozambique)
- → Sociedade Prestadora de Serviços de Pagamentos (Angola)
- → Electronic Money (E-Money) participant (Namibia)
- → Mobile Money Issuers (Lesotho)
- → Electronic Money Issuance (Botswana)
- → E-Money Issuer (Malawi)
- → Mobile Money Service Provider (Somalia)
- → Établissement de paiement émetteur de monnaie électronique (Burundi)
- → Établissement de monnaie électronique (Djibouti)
- → Mobile money operator (The Gambia)
- → Electronic money issuer (Seychelles)
- → Instituição de moeda eletrónica (Cabo Verde)
- → Mobile money operator (Sierra Leone)