Business
RTGS system upgrade successful, says BOU
The RTGS system settles payments between banks individually and in real time, rather than in batches. It handles wholesale, or large-value payments, which makes it a key payment infrastructure in the financial market.
The central bank had used the old system for about 15 to 20 years. Twinemanzi said its last major upgrade was around a decade ago, and that the economy has changed a lot since then.
By: Ali Twaha, Journalist @New Vision
KAMPALA - Bank of Uganda (BOU) has successfully upgraded its Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system, the platform banks use to move large payments between each other. The upgrade was carried out over the weekend.
Speaking to journalists during the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting on November 9, Tumubweine Twinemanzi, the executive director for National Payment Systems at the central bank, said the system is now more efficient.
“We chose to carry out the upgrade over the past weekend, which, for the record, was actually very successful,” he said.
The RTGS system settles payments between banks individually and in real time, rather than in batches. It handles wholesale, or large-value payments, which makes it a key payment infrastructure in the financial market.
The central bank had used the old system for about 15 to 20 years. Twinemanzi said its last major upgrade was around a decade ago, and that the economy has changed a lot since then.
“We chose to carry out the upgrade over the past weekend, which, for the record, was actually very successful,” he said.
The RTGS system settles payments between banks individually and in real time, rather than in batches. It handles wholesale, or large-value payments, which makes it a key payment infrastructure in the financial market.
The central bank had used the old system for about 15 to 20 years. Twinemanzi said its last major upgrade was around a decade ago, and that the economy has changed a lot since then.
“We know that the way payments move, the pace of payments, the volume of payments and the kind of payments we make in the economy have changed over the last 10 years or so,” he said.
Twinemanzi said that the upgrade is meant to make the system handle, and better reflect, how payments are used today.
According to the central bank, as of June 2026, the RTGS processed about 2.4 million transactions. That was a drop of about 5.2% year on year. The value of those transactions, however, was about sh963 trillion, up 0.8%.
“So while the number of transactions is reducing slightly, the value is going up. So while the number of transactions is reducing slightly, the value is going up. The average volume on a monthly is about 215,000 transactions, with a value of about sh79.6 trillion,” Twinemanzi said.
Twinemanzi said that the upgrade is meant to make the system handle, and better reflect, how payments are used today.
According to the central bank, as of June 2026, the RTGS processed about 2.4 million transactions. That was a drop of about 5.2% year on year. The value of those transactions, however, was about sh963 trillion, up 0.8%.
“So while the number of transactions is reducing slightly, the value is going up. So while the number of transactions is reducing slightly, the value is going up. The average volume on a monthly is about 215,000 transactions, with a value of about sh79.6 trillion,” Twinemanzi said.