About Us
IPN: The Company behind It All
About us
Who We Are
- Operator of Namibia's national Instant Payment Solution
- Not-for-profit fintech entity under Bank of Namibia oversight
- Delivers safe, affordable, and interoperable real-time payments for all Namibians
- Enables seamless transactions across banks, mobile money providers, and fintechs
Why We Exist
Payment system reform
IPN Created a platform that:
- Enables real-time, low cost digital payments
- Connects bank accounts, mobile wallets, and other approved stores of value
- Reduces fragmentation across payment platforms
- Expands access to digital payments for underserved communities
- Builds trust through strong governance, security, and regulatory oversight
Namibia’s payment landscape has progressed, but cash still dominates due to cost, distance, fragmentation, and limited interoperability, which is exactly why Instant Payments Namibia exists to deliver a shared national infrastructure that fixes it.
Our Mandate and Principles
Guided by a Clear Public Interest Mandate
Interoperability
All participants connect through a single national platform, enabling seamless payments across banks and non-banks.
Affordability
Transaction costs are designed to remain low to support everyday use by individuals and small businesses.
Inclusion
The system is designed to work across smartphones, basic mobile phones, and traditional banking channels.
Safety and Trust
Strong risk management, fraud controls, and regulatory compliance are embedded into the platform.
Neutrality
IPN operates as an independent scheme and infrastructure provider, supporting competition and innovation across the ecosystem.
Governance and Oversight
Operating Within Namibia's Payment System Framework
IPN operates within Namibia's national payment system framework and in alignment with applicable laws, regulations, and standards issued by the Bank of Namibia.
- Close collaboration with banks, non-bank financial institutions, payment service providers, and mobile network operators
- Partnership with government institutions and industry bodies to maintain system resilience and security
- Clear accountability and transparency through governance structures that protect Namibia's critical financial infrastructure
What We Do
Operating Namibia's Instant Payment Infrastructure
The platform enables a range of everyday use cases, including:
- 24/7 real-time payments across participating institutions
- Person to person payments
- Payments to businesses and merchants
- Government to person disbursements such as grants
- Business to person payments such as salaries and reimbursements
- Cash in and cash out through merchants
- Cash withdrawals at ATMs from digital wallets
Looking Ahead
Building Toward a More Inclusive Digital Economy
Instant Payments Namibia is a foundational layer in the country's digital economy. As adoption grows, the platform will support innovation in areas such as merchant payments, government services, open banking, and new digital financial products.
Our long-term objective is simple but ambitious: to make instant, affordable, and interoperable digital payments available to every Namibian, wherever they live and however they choose to transact.
Our History
How We Got Here
Regulatory Mandate
- The Bank of Namibia issues the Payment System Management Act (2023) and related directives mandating interoperability and the implementation of a national instant payments capability.
- Instant Payments are formally positioned as national payment infrastructure, not a commercial product.
Programme Initiation & Design
- The Instant Payments Programme (IPP) is initiated under the Bank of Namibia.
- Governance structures, scheme rules, operating models, and international partnerships are established.
- Functional, technical, and regulatory design activities commence.
Build & Industry Engagement
- Development of the Instant Payments platform and core infrastructure.
- Industry onboarding begins — banks, PSPs, and government stakeholders.
- Testing frameworks, participant certification, and operational readiness activities are executed.
- Public branding for Instant Payments Namibia (IPN) is introduced.
Testing, Go-Live Preparation & Rollout
- Large-scale industry testing — SIT/UAT and G2P use cases.
- Operationalisation of IPN as a scheme operator.
- Phased go-live and expansion to additional payment use cases.
- Following the initial Government-to-Person (G2P) launch, additional use cases will be introduced in phases after successful testing and confirmation of platform stability.
