Payment System Operator (POS & Payment Gateway Operator) — Ethiopia
The Ethiopia category mapped to payment processing.
Regulator: National Bank of Ethiopia.
NBE Payment System Operator licence for point-of-sale, payment-gateway and ATM operators (ONPS/02/2020 Art. 4.7(c)-(e)) - payment processing without holding customer float. The register labels these entities 'POS & Payment Gateway Operator' / 'Payment Gateway Operator' (variants kept per fact); the statutory ATM Operator type has no registered entity today.
Maintained: this official source is re-checked on a weekly schedule — last checked 2026-08-04 · changed 2026-08-04.
Licensed providers
19 entitiesReading the tables
- not dated
- — the official source publishes no date of its own. We show our own last-checked date instead of inventing one for the regulator.
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 | ETB 20 million (twenty million Birr) for an automated teller machine operator; ETB 10 million (ten million Birr) for a point-of-sale device operator; ETB 3 million (three million Birr) for a payment gateway operator (the sum of the relevant tiers if the applicant operates two or more systems). Verbatim“c) ETB 20 million (twenty million Birr) if it is an automated teller machine operator; d) ETB 10 million (ten million Birr) if it is a point of sale device operator; e) ETB 3 million (three million Birr) if it is a payment gateway operator;” | Licensing and Authorization of Payment System Operators Directive No. ONPS/02/2020 (operative PSO base) | 2020 |
| Local presence / incorporation | Must be established as a company, with a certificate of registration for the trade name and articles and memorandum of association prepared in both Amharic and English. Verbatim“be established as a company … submit articles and memorandum of association prepared both in Amharic and English.” | Licensing and Authorization of Payment System Operators Directive No. ONPS/02/2020 (operative PSO base) | 2020 |
| Timeline | Not officially published: No fixed number of days within which the National Bank must grant or refuse the application is published in this directive. | Licensing and Authorization of Payment System Operators Directive No. ONPS/02/2020 (operative PSO base) | 2020 |
| Local ownership | Ownership by any one person is limited to 40% (operators other than the national switch operator). Verbatim“have ownership by a person limited to 40%, if it is other than national switch operator.” | Licensing and Authorization of Payment System Operators Directive No. ONPS/02/2020 (operative PSO base) | 2020 |
| Fees | ETB 3,000 (three thousand Birr) non-refundable application processing fee. Verbatim“An applicant shall pay a non-refundable application processing fee of ETB 3,000 (three thousand Birr) and present proof of payment together with the applications.” | Licensing and Authorization of Payment System Operators Directive No. ONPS/02/2020 (operative PSO base) | 2020 |
| Ongoing obligations | Not officially published: Operate under National-Bank-approved system rules and the continuing ownership conditions above. No single quantitative ongoing-obligation figure is published. | Licensing and Authorization of Payment System Operators Directive No. ONPS/02/2020 (operative PSO base) | 2020 |
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:PAYMENT_PROCESSING:
- → Payment Solution Service Provider (PSSP) Authorisation (Nigeria)
- → Switching & Processing Licence Category (Nigeria)
- → Electronic Retail Payment Service Provider (Kenya)
- → Third Party Payment Provider (South Africa)
- → System Operator (South Africa)
- → Payment Service Provider (Tanzania)
- → Payment Service Provider (Uganda)
- → Payment Aggregation Service Provider (Zambia)
- → Aggregator (Rwanda)
- → Établissement de paiement (Benin)
- → Établissement de paiement (Burkina Faso)
- → Établissement de paiement (Côte d'Ivoire)
- → Établissement de paiement (Guinea-Bissau)
- → Établissement de paiement (Mali)
- → Établissement de paiement (Niger)
- → Établissement de paiement (Senegal)
- → Établissement de paiement (Togo)
- → 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)
- → Electronic payment processing (EFT / payment gateway) (Zimbabwe)
- → Agrégateur (prestataire de services connexes de paiement) (DR Congo)
- → Agregador de pagamento (Mozambique)
- → Sociedade Prestadora de Serviços de Pagamentos (Angola)
- → Payment Service Provider (Mauritius)
- → Third-party payment service provider (Namibia)
- → Payment facilitator service provider (Namibia)
- → Account Based Payment Services (Botswana)
- → Payment Service Provider (Other PSP) (Malawi)
- → Établissement de paiement (Tunisia)
- → Établissement agrégateur de paiement (fournisseur de plateforme de paiement) (Burundi)
- → Payment service provider (The Gambia)
- → Payment service provider (Seychelles)
- → Instituição de pagamento (Cabo Verde)
- → Payment service provider (Sierra Leone)