For the first time in Namibia’s history, the total value of intrabank transactions has surged to within striking distance of a trillion Namibia dollars, reaching N$996 billion in 2025 on the back of 67 million individual transactions. The figure, contained in the Bank of Namibia’s annual report released last week, represents a staggering 11 percent increase in transaction volumes and a 10 percent rise in value over the previous year, signalling a profound and accelerating shift in how money moves through the economy.
The data reveals that Namibians are increasingly conducting financial activity within the walls of single banking institutions rather than moving funds across different banks. Intrabank transactions—payments and transfers that originate and terminate within the same banking institution—now account for a combined value approaching one trillion dollars, a scale that would have been unimaginable a decade ago. The growth reflects both the deepening digitalisation of the financial system and the changing habits of consumers who are opting for faster, more seamless payment experiences.
Yet this quiet revolution in domestic payments has brought with it a new set of challenges for the institutions tasked with keeping the system safe, resilient, and transparent. As the volume of internal transactions balloons, the Bank of Namibia is racing to modernise oversight frameworks designed for a bygone era of paper‑based banking and slow, manual clearing.
A system under strain
The annual report paints a picture of a national payment ecosystem under immense pressure from its own success. Interbank electronic funds transfer transactions processed by Namclear, the country’s sole clearing house, rose from 26 million in 2024 to 30 million in 2025, with total value climbing from N$404 billion to N$447 billion. But the most dramatic growth occurred inside the walls of individual banks, where the combination of mobile applications, digital wallets, and streamlined internal transfers has created a parallel financial highway that regulators are now working to fully illuminate.
The Bank’s oversight of this expanding system has become increasingly complex. During 2025, the Bank conducted targeted on‑site inspections of payment service providers, issued provisional authorisations to new operators, and revised key regulatory determinations to keep pace with innovation. A revised framework for licensing and authorising payment service providers was gazetted in early 2026, aimed at creating a “future‑fit, risk‑based framework that supports innovation and financial inclusion.”
At the same time, the Bank completed a major overhaul of the fees and charges framework for payment services, consolidating and harmonising standards across the sector with the objective of promoting competition, efficiency, and consumer protection. The revised Determination on Standards for Fees and Charges for Payment Services (PSD‑10) was finalised for gazetting in December 2025, repealing and replacing existing determinations.
Modernising the rails
Behind the scenes, the infrastructure that supports these billions in transactions has undergone a quiet but profound transformation. In May 2025, the Bank completed the migration of the Namibia Interbank Settlement System (NISS) from SWIFT’s MT messaging standards to ISO 20022 MX messages, well ahead of the global deadline. The transition, according to the report, “significantly enhanced straight‑through processing, reduced operational risk, improved data quality, and strengthened interoperability with regional and global payment systems.”
The Bank also successfully onboarded the Central Securities Depository Limited as a settlement participant in December 2025, marking a historic shift from paper‑based securities settlement to a fully electronic environment conducted in central bank money. The move enables effective delivery‑versus‑payment arrangements, reduces settlement and operational risk, and strengthens integration between payment and securities settlement infrastructures.
Preparatory work is now under way to onboard the Instant Payment System, which will support real‑time payments and enhance interoperability across the national payments ecosystem. The system is expected to further accelerate the already rapid growth in intrabank and instant transactions.
Regional integration and new risks
The surge in domestic digital payments is occurring against a backdrop of deeper regional integration. The Bank has been actively participating in the Southern African Development Community‑Real Time Gross Settlement system, which processed R2.8 trillion in 2025, with Namibian banks accounting for R708 billion—25 percent of the total value processed.
At the same time, the Bank is steering the industry toward a new regional framework for low‑value cross‑border EFTs within the Common Monetary Area. A directive issued during the year requires payment service providers to commence migration of low‑value cross‑border transactions to the Transactions Cleared on an Immediate Basis (TCIB) payment scheme, with full migration required by April 2027.
But the expansion of digital payments has also created new avenues for abuse. The annual report notes that card‑not‑present fraud on e‑commerce platforms, often processed without multi‑factor authentication, contributed to a rise in card fraud to N$19.9 million in 2025. More dramatically, EFT fraud surged to N$53 million, driven by sophisticated phishing and “wishing” schemes.
In response, the Bank has revised its regulatory frameworks and launched aggressive fraud awareness campaigns. Collaboration with telecommunications providers and law enforcement agencies is planned for the coming year, and industry platforms such as the Cybersecurity Council have been mobilised to reinforce security measures.
The road ahead
As intrabank transactions edge toward the trillion‑dollar mark, the Bank of Namibia is already looking beyond the current five‑year payment system strategy. The National Payment System Vision and Strategy for 2026‑2030 is in its final stages of development, informed by a review of progress achieved, a Payments Thought Leadership Event, a consumer payment behaviour survey, and industry workshops.
The new strategy will guide the development of a safe, efficient, and inclusive payment system capable of supporting the next wave of growth. For an economy where nearly N$1 trillion now moves internally each year, the stakes could not be higher. The quiet revolution in how Namibians pay is no longer a future prospect—it is the present reality, and the institutions overseeing it are racing to ensure that the rails can carry the load safely, securely, and without interruption.