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2012-02-16

Regulation (NAP) - Regulation on the Supervision and Assessment of the Payment System

The Central Bank of São Tomé and Príncipe issues this Permanent Application Standard to establish the supervisory framework for its Payment System, mandating continuous and event-driven oversight of payment instruments, subsystems, and operators. It requires credit institutions to report non-compliance with fundamental retail payment principles and defines clear identification methodologies for high-impact and significant-class incidents. Non-compliance triggers sanctions under existing supervisory laws, while the Central Bank retains authority to resolve interpretive questions and publish periodic development reports.

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Banco Central de S.T.P.PERMANENT APPLICATION STANDARD (NAP)CODE RD 09
PROPOSER(S)EFFECTIVE DATEISSUANCE DATE
PMGL20/02/201216/02/2012

Subject: Regulation on the Supervision and Assessment of the Payment System

It being necessary to adopt control mechanisms for the Payment System with the aim of ensuring its proper functioning and contributing to the financial stability of the National Financial Market;

Considering that the increase in transactions in the national and international financial markets, the sophistication of financial products, and globalization embodied by technological advances require the development of effective, secure, and efficient Payment Systems in order to preserve the stable functioning of the financial system and provide more adequate support for productive, commercial, and financial activities;

In these terms, the Central Bank of São Tomé and Príncipe, exercising the powers conferred upon it by letters d) and f) of paragraph 2 of Article 8 of Law No. 8/92 and Article 30 of Law No. 9/92, combined with Article 6 of Decree-Law No. 13/2010 dated 28 December 2010, determines the following:

CHAPTER I SCOPE AND OBJECT

Article 1 (Objective)

  1. The supervision of the Payment System aims to promote its proper functioning and protect the financial system from possible systemic effects resulting from the non-compliance of its participants.

  2. The supervision activity consists of:

a) Collection of relevant information; b) Evaluation of information regarding supervision and control objectives; c) Formulation of amendments where necessary; d) Verification and communication to the operational sector in case of insufficiency or lack of balance;

Reviewed/Approved [Signature] Revocation Data:

Banco Central de S.T.P.PERMANENT APPLICATION STANDARD (NAP)CODE RD 09
PROPOSER(S)EFFECTIVE DATEISSUANCE DATE
PMGL20/02/201216/02/2012
  1. The supervision of the Payment System covers payment instruments, such as: a) Cards, b) Credit transfers, c) Checks and others.

Article 2 (Definition)

  1. The Payment System is the systematic and structured set of participants, services, subsystems, payment instruments, technologies, and procedures that facilitate the transfer of funds or cash for the completion of payments and the circulation of money in the economy.

  2. The Payment System Operator is the entity that manages POS and ATM terminals at both the infrastructure and service levels, receiving and processing messages sent by the terminals while ensuring and supervising the security and integrity of the received and processed information.

Article 3 (Composition)

  1. The Payment System is composed of the following subsystems:

a) Settlement of large-value transfers; b) SICOI-Interbank Clearing System, highlighting: i. Checks; c) Debit and credit payment orders; d) SWIFT – Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication; e) Electronic operations of the Dobra 24 network ii. ATM iii. POS

Reviewed/Approved [Signature] Revocation Data:

Banco Central de S.T.P.PERMANENT APPLICATION STANDARD (NAP)CODE RD 09
PROPOSER(S)EFFECTIVE DATEISSUANCE DATE
PMGL20/02/201216/02/2012

Article 4 (Involved Parties)

  1. The following are participants in the Payment System:

a) The State (through the Treasury Directorate) b) The Central Bank of São Tomé and Príncipe c) Banking/Credit Institutions d) Payment System Operators e) Other entities as determined by the Central Bank

Article 5 (Responsibilities)

  1. The supervision of the Payment System shall be ensured by the Supervision and Assessment Commission for the Payment System of BCSTP;

  2. Credit Institutions are required to notify the Central Bank of non-compliance with the Fundamental Principles set forth in the NAP on the Fundamental Principles for Retail Payment Systems.

Article 6 (Types of Supervision)

  1. The supervision of the PS includes a set of actions, namely:

a) Continuous supervision, which must be carried out permanently to ensure the regular functioning of the system; b) Motivated supervision due to system changes, which must be carried out whenever the system's rules and procedures undergo significant alterations, or when continuous supervision reveals results requiring more detailed analysis, information, and reporting.

Reviewed/Approved [Signature] Revocation Data:

Banco Central de S.T.P.PERMANENT APPLICATION STANDARD (NAP)CODE RD 09
PROPOSER(S)EFFECTIVE DATEISSUANCE DATE
PMGL20/02/201216/02/2012

CHAPTER II INFORMATION AND REPORTS

Article 7 (Frequency)

  1. The Central Bank will periodically publish reports on the development of the Payment System.

CHAPTER III ON INCIDENTS

Article 8 (Identification)

  1. All incidents occurring in the Payment System must be identified and reported to the Supervision and Assessment Commission of BCSTP, whether they are high-impact incidents and/or significant class incidents (according to the classification used by operators).

  2. The identification of the incident (whether high-impact and/or belonging to a significant class) follows a common methodology, highlighting:

a) Indicators for identifying high-impact incidents.

The incident occurs under the following conditions: i. Duration of system interruption equal to or greater than 2 hours, and/or; ii. Delay in system closure;

b) Indicator for identifying a significant class incident: i. Results from dividing the total number of incidents in the year by the number of quarters, if greater than one incident per quarter;

Article 9 Sanctions

In case of non-compliance with the provisions of this NAP, the sanctions provided for in the NAP on "Supervisory Action and Application of Penalties" and Articles 24 and 25 of Law 13/2010 shall apply.

Reviewed/Approved [Signature] Revocation Data:

Banco Central de S.T.P.PERMANENT APPLICATION STANDARD (NAP)CODE RD 09
PROPOSER(S)EFFECTIVE DATEISSUANCE DATE
PMGL20/02/201216/02/2012

Article 10 (Questions and Omissions)

Questions and omissions arising from the interpretation of this NAP are subsequently resolved by the Central Bank.

Article 11 (Entry into Force)

This NAP enters into force immediately upon its publication.

Central Bank of São Tomé and Príncipe, on 16 February 2012

Reviewed/Approved [Signature] Revocation Data:

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