Regulatory Alerts2025-01-01
Revision of Operating Rules for the Zambia Interbank Payment and Settlement
The Bank of Zambia has revised its ZIPSS operating rules to formally incorporate extended operating hours for the payment and settlement system, effective April 1, 2025. The updated regulations amend the Daily Operating Timetable to establish new Monday-to-Friday and Saturday cut-off times for customer payments, interbank transfers, and end-of-day processing, while simultaneously deleting decommissioned Swift BIC codes for Banc ABC and Atlas Mara. These amended rules take effect immediately, requiring participants to adjust transaction scheduling, maintain sufficient settlement account balances for automatic liquidity facility repayments at final cut-off, and comply with the revised time-based pricing structure.
[Logo: Bank of Zambia]
Bank of Zambia OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY GOVERNOR - OPERATIONS
BOZ/EXEC/DGO/psd/bp
October 27, 2025
CB Circular No. : 23/2025
To : Accountant General – Ministry of Finance and National Planning Heads of Commercial Bank Chief Executive Officer – Zambia Electronic Clearing House Ltd.
REVISION OF OPERATING RULES FOR THE ZAMBIA INTERBANK PAYMENT AND SETTLEMENT
Following the adoption of the extended operating hours on the Zambia Interbank Payment and Settlement System (ZIPSS) and the Central Securities Depository (CSD) on April 1, 2025, the ZIPSS Rules have been revised to incorporate the revised operating hours. In this regard, Annex 1 (Daily Operating Timetable) of the rules has been amended to reflect the extended operating hours (Appendix I).
Further, the Bank has amended Annex 4 on Swift BIC Codes to delete the two decommissioned BIC codes for Banc ABC and Atlas Mara (Appendix II).
The amended Rules shall take effect immediately.
Should you have any queries, kindly contact the Director – Payment Systems, on email mkamhuza@boz.zm.
[Signature]
Francis Chipimo (PhD) DEPUTY GOVERNOR – OPERATIONS
cc Governor Deputy Governor – Administration Chief Operations Officer Director – Financial Markets Director – Risk and Compliance Director – Information and Communication Technology Director – Prudential Supervision Director – Banking and Currency
Bank Square, Cairo Road, P.O. Box 30080, Lusaka, Zambia Tel:+260-211-399303, 399300, E-mail: dgo@boz.zm. Web: http://www.boz.zm
SUMMARY OF CHANGES TO THE ZIPSS OPERATING RULES
Annex 1: Daily Operating Timetable
Monday – Friday
| Time | Event | Activities by Participants and Available Transactions |
|---|---|---|
| 07.00 | Start of Day | • ZIPSS Start-of-Day<br>• Settlement of ZIPSS charges<br>• BoZ Housekeeping period<br>• Only BoZ may submit transactions |
| 07.15 | Open for Business | • ZIPSS is open for business and can process all transactions from all participants<br>• ZIPSS shall process Net Settlement Instructions (NSIs) from the clearing house as per times set in clearing house rules for various clearing sessions<br>• ZIPSS shall process Net Settlement Instructions (NSIs) for other clearing institutions such as the Lusaka Stock Exchange and VISA<br>• ZIPSS transactions shall be charged differently at different times of the day as per pricing advised to all Participants by BoZ |
| 19:00 | Cut-off for Customer Payments (Initial Cut-off) | • ZIPSS shall no longer accept pacs.008 payments<br>• pacs.009 payments shall continue to be accepted |
| 19:15 | Cut-off for Interbank Transfers (Final Cut-off) | • ZIPSS will repay all ILF drawings made by Participants. Participants must ensure sufficient funds on the SA to allow automatic repayment of ILF at Final Cut-off.<br>• Only BoZ can submit ZIPSS transactions for value today.<br>• Session closed, queue/settlement processing will cease and any ZIPSS transactions still in queues will be rejected.<br>• Final Cut-off reports are generated. |
| 19.30 | End of Day | • ZIPSS End of Day reports available for downloading |
| After End of Day until next Start-of-Day | • Update and Reconciliation with files sent from ZIPSS.<br>• Participants can continue to inquire reports from the system |
Bank Square, Cairo Road, P.O. Box 30080, Lusaka, Zambia Tel:+260-211-399303, 399300, E-mail: dgo@boz.zm. Web: http://www.boz.zm
Saturday
| Time | Event | Activities by Participants and Available Transactions |
|---|---|---|
| 08.00 | Start of Day | • ZIPSS Start-of-Day<br>• Settlement of ZIPSS charges<br>• BoZ Housekeeping period<br>• Only BoZ may submit transactions |
| 08.15 | Open for Business | • ZIPSS is open for business and can process all transactions from all participants. Additionally;<br>• ZIPSS shall process Net Settlement Instructions (NSIs) from the clearing house as per times set in clearing house rules for various clearing sessions<br>• ZIPSS shall process Net Settlement Instructions (NSIs) for other clearing institutions such as the Lusaka Stock Exchange and VISA<br>• ZIPSS transactions shall be charged differently at different times of the day as per pricing advised to all Participants by BoZ |
| 14:00 | Cut-off for Customer Payments (Initial Cut-off) | • ZIPSS shall no longer accept pacs.008 payments<br>• pacs.009 payments shall continue to be accepted |
| 14:15 | Cut-off for Interbank Transfers (Final Cut-off) | • ZIPSS will repay all ILF drawings made by Participants. Participants must ensure sufficient funds on the SA to allow automatic repayment of ILF at Final Cut-off.<br>• Only BOZ can submit ZIPSS transactions for value today.<br>• Session closed, queue/settlement processing will cease and any ZIPSS transactions still in queues will be rejected. |
| 14:30 | End of Day | • ZIPSS End of Day reports available for downloading |
Bank Square, Cairo Road, P.O. Box 30080, Lusaka, Zambia Tel:+260-211-399303, 399300, E-mail: dgo@boz.zm. Web: http://www.boz.zm
Annex 4: Swift BIC Codes
| Institution | SWIFT BIC | TEST BIC |
|---|---|---|
| Bank of Zambia (ZIPSS) | BAZAZMLA | BAZAZMLA |
| Bank of Zambia (Participant) | BAZAZMLU | BAZAZMLU |
| AB Bank Zambia | ABBAZMLU | ABBAZMLU |
| Access Bank | AZAMZMLU | AZAMZMLU |
| Bank of China | BKCHZMLU | BKCHZMLU |
| Absa Bank | BARCZMLX | BARCZMLX |
| Citibank | CITIZMLU | CITIZMLU |
| Ecobank | ECOCZMLU | ECOCZMLU |
| First Alliance Bank | FALLZMLU | FALLZMLU |
| First Capital Bank | FRCGZMLU | FRCGZMLU |
| First National Bank | FIRNZMLU | FIRNZMLU |
| Indo Zambia Bank | INZAZMLX | INZAZMLX |
| Investrust Bank (In Liquidation) | VSTRZMLU | VSTRZMLU |
| Lusaka Securities Exchange | LUSEZMLU | LUSEZMLU |
| Ministry of Finance and National Planning | MINFZMLU | MINFZMLU |
| Stanbic Bank | SBICZMLX | SBICZMLX |
| Standard Chartered Bank | SCBLZMLX | SCBLZMLX |
| United Bank for Africa | UNAFZMLU | UNAFZMLU |
| Zambia Industrial Commercial Bank | ZICBZMLU | ZICBZMLU |
| Zanaco | ZNCOZMLU | ZNCOZMLU |
| Zambia Electronic Clearing House Limited | ZCHLZMLU | ZCHLZMLU |
Bank Square, Cairo Road, P.O. Box 30080, Lusaka, Zambia Tel:+260-211-399303, 399300, E-mail: dgo@boz.zm. Web: http://www.boz.zm