Foreign companies can operate in the national payment systems as Parliamentarians voted to revise the law enacted for the past decade. The bill was passed to allow investment fees during involvement in business blocked for foreign nationals.

Yinager Dessie(PhD), governor of the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE), told members of the Parliament that the bill addresses payment issuers and facilitators, allowing them to operate in areas the banks cannot cover.

Foreign companies can also establish subsidiaries to run the business and settle their investment fees in foreign currencies. The amount of the investment fee is yet to be decided.

Sources at NBE told Fortune that the recently operational foreign telecom company Safaricom and the federal government are discussing the amount of investment fee the company will pay to engage in the digital payment system. According to Yinager, Safaricom is waiting for the settlement to obtain its license.

Last month, the bill was up for discussion in the presence of representatives from the Ministry of Finance, the central bank and the two telecom operators Safaricom and Ethiotelecom.

Although the previous proclamation was given the green light early, licensing and authorisation for the operation started two years ago. Seven payment operators have been granted licenses fulfilling the requirements of a paid-up capital from three million to 300 million Br.

Established by 42 shareholders with an initial capital of 14 million Br, Arifpay Financial Technologies was the first to obtain an operating license. It launched its digital payment service a couple of weeks ago after securing a commercial license from the central bank a month ago. It provides digital payment services for utility bills, air time top-ups and school fees in smartphones, point of sales and QR payment terminals. Arifpay plans to facilitate 100 transactions within one POS machine in a day.

According to Bernard Lorined, CEO of Arifpay, the foreign fintech providers will have better investment and human capital to engage as switch operators.

"There may be proper management of ATMs if Banks outsource it," he said.

The lack of management of ATMs has forced the state-owned Commercial Bank of Ethiopia to float a tender to outsource it earlier this year.