EthSwitch launches national instant payments, unifying Ethiopia’s digital economy on BPC SmartVista

EthSwitch, Ethiopia’s national switch owned by all public and private banks together with the National Bank of Ethiopia has launched the country’s National Instant Payment System powered by BPC’s next-generation SmartVista platform. The system was officially launched at the Ethiopia Digital Payment Conference 2.0 in December 2025, opened by H.E. Dr. Eyob Tekalign, Governor of the National Bank of Ethiopia, and H.E. Temesgen Tiruneh, Deputy Prime Minister.

EthSwitch now connects 32 banks, 12 MFIs, three PSO and three PII, providing modern card-switch hosting, centralized automated reconciliation, and modern card and shared e-wallet services to its members. With newly established EthioPay-IPS, EthSwitch expands its national role by giving financial institutions the modern payment rails to deliver faster, more affordable, payment transactions through account-to-account and wallet-to-wallet transfers, ETHQR, alias and recurring payments, strengthening domestic interoperability.

“Our goal is to provide simple, affordable, secure and efficient digital payment infrastructure to every retail payment provider and through them, to every Ethiopian,” said Abeneazer Wondwossen Chief Portfolio Officer at EthSwitch. “With SmartVista, we have built an interoperable nation-wide ecosystem for instant payments that is locally governed, future-ready and open to innovation. This launch is a point of pride for Ethiopia and a milestone for our financial sector.”

EthSwitch selected BPC’s SmartVista to provide a future-proven foundation that meets international certification standards while addressing local market needs. EthioPay-IPS allows member financial institutions to offer its customers perform real-time A2A and W2W transfers, pay with interoperable QR nationwide, initiate requests-to-pay and alias-based payments that let users send or receive money using a simple identifier. Meanwhile, connected members benefits from support of e-mandates so customers can authorize recurring collections with clear consent by merchants, interoperable bulk and trade payments, as well as an interoperable merchant portal that provides merchant networks a single view of payments with real-time dashboards, reporting, and streamlined reconciliation.

Launched national Instant Payment System bring secure online and in-app commerce to consumers and merchants by linking financial institutions, businesses and networks for immediate, reliable settlement. Customers can pay with cards using strong authentication, dynamic QR codes, accounts or wallets, payment links, and now able to settle utilities, taxes, and government fees on a unified national platform.

Digital payments adoption through Ethiopia is now accelerating, as EthSwitch reports person-to-person transactions more than tripled year-on-year volume in 2024/2025, reaching 128 million operations, ATM volumes reached 120 million, and POS transactions approached three million. With SmartVista in place, all member traffic is monitored centrally in real time without disrupting established connections.

"EthSwitch’s project shows what is possible when a country commits to one modern, scalable platform,” said Andrey Maiorov, Head of Account Management - MEA, BPC. “SmartVista is unlimitedly scalable and is designed to establish and run truly national ecosystems connecting as many members as there are with the speed and resilience a digital economy of new age requires. We are proud to offer our technology and expertise as the backbone for Ethiopia’s next chapter in digitalisation and financial inclusion.”
With EthioPay Instant Payment System launched, EthSwitch and its members are positioned to expand innovative payment services, grow merchant acceptance and open new digital channels, bringing faster payments, broader access and security to communities and businesses across Ethiopia.