Ethswitch
- Geographic Reach
Ethiopia
- Gender
No
- Geographic Region
East Africa
- Coverage
Domestic
- Year Of Establishment
2023
- Ips Type
Cross-domain
- Interoperability Arrangement
Multilateral
- Governance Typology
Public Private Partnership (PPP)
- Ownership Model
Jointly owned
- System Owner
EthSwitch
- Overseer
National Bank of Ethiopia (central bank)
- System Governance
EthSwitch
- Operator
EthSwitch
- Settlement Agent
National Bank of Ethiopia (central bank)
- Number Of Unique Ips End Users
-
- Total Number Of Participants2025
42
- Number Of Direct Participants Commercial Banks
30
- Number Of Direct Participants EMoney Issuers
1
- Number Of Direct Participants MFIs
2
- Number Of Direct Participants Other
-
- Number Of Direct Participants Post Office
-
- Indirect Participants Type
Microfinance organisations (4), DFS (2), MNO (3)
- Number Of Indirect Participants
9
- Supported Use Cases
P2P, P2B , B2B, P2G, G2P
- Supported Instruments
Credit EFT, Debit EFT, E-money, Card
- Primary Local Channel
App
- Supported Channels
USSD, App, Browser, QR Code, POS, ATM
- Qr Code Enabled Type
-
- Messaging Standard
ISO 20022
- Proxy Id
Bank account number , Mobile phone number, QR code, email, Mechant ID, National ID
- Other Proxy Id Type
-
- Business Model
Not-for-profit
- Pricing Structure
For P2P, we adopt a tiered regressive pricing approach where the fees/rates decline as the transaction value increases
- Scheme Rules Public
Yes
- Additional Recourse Requirements
Yes
- Dispute Resolution Mechanism
Yes
- Api Use Function
Yes
- Startup Funding Source
Developmental Partners (AdFi &BMGF) EthSwitch's platform development costs are financed by grants from the African Development Bank’s ADFI (African Digital Finance Initiative) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The total cost of developing the platform with a 5-year after-sales annual support fee and infrastructure cost is USD 10,975,875 million
- Participation In Decision Making
Yes
- Mechanism For Decision Making
1. The participants are all licensed ecosystem players, including Banks, the National Bank of Ethiopia (Central Bank), Micro Finance Institutions (MFI’s), Payment Instrument Issuers (PII’s), and Payment Services Operators (PSO’s). 2. EthSwitch is governed by an established corporate governance structure, where the Shareholders’ General Assembly is the supreme governing body, and the General Assembly elect 11 Board of Directors, which is comprised of Elected Members who oversee the overall operation of the company. 3. Participation in Policy formulation: Financial players participate in different work groups established for the purpose of drafting policy and benchmarking different financial technology, approaches/processes and practices that need to be adapted and adopted at the national level. 4. Participation in Business Requirement Definition: EthSwitch invites all Ecosystem players to review the product business requirement document, products such as interoperability, National Payment Gateway, Domestic Payment Scheme and Shared Services. 5. Request for inclusion of new features: Ecosystem players might have their Own specific requirements which are not in the scope of the shared services, in such cases institution that originates the requirement will pay the change request quotation of the EthSwitch solution provider and governed by the EthSwitch version three pricing guideline. 6. EthSwitch is mandated to Create Interoperability between financial institutions, implement a Domestic Payment Scheme, provide a National Payment Gateway, serve as Central Interconnectivity for Clearing and Settlement, and provide Shared Platform/Infrastructure services.
- Ability To Become Direct Participants
No
- Entities That Cannot Participate
Those who have no RTGS or settlement account from the central bank cannot become direct participants. But they can join the system through a sponsor bank.
- Min Value For Transactions
No min. value
- Corporate Structure
Other
- Other Corporate Structure
Share Company (EthSwitch is a National Switch owned by all banks (private and public), the National Bank of Ethiopia, Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs), Payment Instrument Issuers (PIIs), and Payment System Operators (PSOs).)
- Pull Request To Pay Enabled
Yes
- Third Party Connections Enabled
Yes
- Real Time Payment Confirmation
No
- Transaction Validation Enabled
No
- Inclusivity Ranking
Progressed
