The East African Community (EAC) has formally launched a pilot initiative to operationalise a regional instant payment platform, beginning with the interconnection of Tanzania and Rwanda’s national payment systems. The project represents a foundational step toward an integrated financial ecosystem across the EAC bloc, aimed at reducing transaction costs and supporting seamless digital money movement between countries.
This pilot, under technical implementation following a high-level coordination meeting held in Kigali, connects the Tanzania Instant Payment System (TIPS), managed by the Bank of Tanzania, with Rwanda’s national e-payment switch, RSwitch. The initiative will allow real-time transfers between bank accounts and mobile money wallets, presenting a tangible step towards easing cross-border commerce for citizens, small businesses, and informal traders alike.
According to Daniel Murenzi, the EAC’s Principal Information Technology Officer, the pilot constitutes “a pivotal milestone in our regional payment integration agenda”, reflecting a broader ambition to establish a harmonised EAC-wide instant payment network. Fabian Ladislaus Kasole, representing the Bank of Tanzania, reaffirmed the bloc’s collective commitment to building “a robust framework that enhances cross-border payment efficiency and financial inclusion.”
The choice to begin with Rwanda and Tanzania appears both strategic and pragmatic. These countries have advanced digital finance infrastructures and have demonstrated consistent policy-level commitment to regional integration. Rwanda’s RSwitch operates as a national e-switch supporting interoperability, while Tanzania’s TIPS enables mobile and banking channels to integrate for instant domestic transfers.
By reducing friction in payments, this pilot is expected to lay the groundwork for further expansion across all EAC member states—including Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo—facilitating a potential continental model for cross-border financial integration. In doing so, the initiative aligns with the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), both of which highlight the necessity of interoperable payment systems to unlock intra-African trade.
Crucially, the project does not impose a new infrastructure but rather connects existing national systems, preserving sovereignty while promoting regional interdependence. This approach allows countries to retain control over their domestic monetary systems while reaping the economic benefits of integration.
The Kigali meeting brought together central banks, payment service providers, and digital finance stakeholders from across the region to refine technical standards, regulatory arrangements, and governance structures for the broader rollout. According to statements from EAC officials, a focus on security, regulatory coherence, and institutional coordination underpins the initiative’s design.
As digital financial ecosystems evolve across Africa, the EAC’s instant payment pilot seeks to respond to the urgent needs of low-income populations and micro-enterprises, for whom cross-border remittances and trade form vital economic lifelines. The initiative could play a critical role in reconfiguring regional value chains, facilitating rapid, low-cost payments in a manner that centres African development goals and perspectives.
The pilot also challenges inherited paradigms that have long framed African financial systems through a donor-led, Western-centric lens. Instead, the EAC’s initiative reflects a self-determined, technically grounded, and regionally contextualised response to the barriers impeding Africa’s economic fluidity. It marks a shift toward homegrown solutions in digital infrastructure, developed and governed within an African framework of mutual cooperation.
As the proof-of-concept phase advances, the outcomes are likely to influence broader policy on payment system integration within and beyond the EAC. The success of the Tanzania-Rwanda linkage may well serve as a continental precedent, offering lessons for other regional economic communities such as SADC and ECOWAS that are also exploring interoperable digital payment platforms.
While much work remains in terms of scalability, standardisation, and public trust, the pilot already signals a meaningful step toward an Africa where financial mobility transcends borders—not as an abstract ideal, but as a daily, tangible reality.
