Africa
CBN alerts Nigeria’s financial sector to new sanctions
Lenders and other institutions ordered to report to central bank within 48 hours
Nigeria should allow stablecoin innovation but manage risk – IMF
Institution sets out four steps to manage surging adoption of assets
Botswana holds rates, while Namibia tightens by 25bp
Southern African nations remain cautious, despite deal between US and Iran
Central banks must not outsource critical thinking to AI – panel
As uses for the tools proliferate, central bankers weigh up how to use them safely and ethically
Uganda announces next step towards ‘cashless’ society
Central bank says limits on withdrawals are part of strategy to fully ‘digitise’ payments system
DRC’s FX upgrade part of efforts to boost currency – governor
Wameso says central bank is pursuing modernisation agenda to strengthen the financial system
People moves: Adrian to step down from IMF
Plus senior appointments in Belgium and Botswana
De-dollarisation presents new opportunities – panel
Speakers at London Meetings outline unique approaches to dealing with changing investment landscape
AML/CFT seen as biggest barrier to improving cross-border payments
All African central banks say AML/CFT compliance is a major challenge
South Africa signals cautious stance on stablecoins
Deputy governor asks if they are efficient payment method or a means of circumventing regulations
Three in 10 instant payment systems built in-house
Montran is most widely-used commercial partner for development
Nigeria to reposition its struggling CBDC
Central bank says it will focus instrument on government-to-person and cross-border payments
One in five central banks regulates stablecoins
Most respondents are indifferent on use of stablecoins for payment
Court ruling sows confusion over crypto’s status in South Africa
Judge’s decision that bitcoin ‘is money’ directly contradicts verdict in ruling last year
Number of unplanned outages in RTGS systems doubles
Central banks with longest average downtime typically plan to upgrade system within a year
Working group minutes: tokenised platforms vs synchronisation
Central bankers weigh up merits of emerging technologies and debate stablecoin use cases
Two-thirds of RTGS systems now aligned with ISO 20022
Over 80% of central banks aligned with CPMI harmonised standards
RTGS systems with broader hours accessed by more financial firms
Number of non-banks with RTGS systems access doubles year on year
Central Bank of Nigeria announces high-level reshuffle
Four deputy governors take on new portfolios
RTGS systems’ running costs linked to operational hours
Two-thirds of infrastructure still operational for 7–12 hours daily
RTGS systems process nearly 200 million payments on average
Transaction values average $11.6 trillion among respondents
Sarb hikes interest rates for first time in three years
MPC split, though governor says this was more about timing than direction of travel
Number of RTGS fee-regulating central banks rises
More than two-fifths of retail payments ecosystem were diversified in 2025
Non-banks lack central bank oversight in some jurisdictions
One in five smaller central banks lack oversight on all payment systems