The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) has awarded Sunpay, a fintech firm, a payment operator license. The firm can now embark on its operations as a Point of Sale (POS) and payment gateway operator. Part of the Sunshine Investment Group, best known for its flagship construction company, Sunpay was incorporated last year with 100 million Br in initial capital. The figure is considerably higher than the central bank's minimum threshold of 10 million Br in paid-up capital for POS operators and three million Birr for gateway operators. Two weeks ago, the central bank had issued the first payment operator license to ArifPay. The state-owned Ethio telecom became the first non-financial institution to win a payment instrument issuer license from the central bank last year for its Telebirr mobile money platform.