National Bank To Classify Payment Systems By Significance

The National Bank of Belarus has established a procedure for classifying payment systems by significance. National Bank Board Resolution No. 204 of September 22 will come into force after its official publication.

Payment systems will be divided into significant and other payment systems. Significant payment systems, in turn, may fall into three categories:

• systemically significant payment system — a payment system whose disruption may cause and spread systemic failures across the payments market;
• potentially significant payment system — a payment system whose disruption may lead to the disruption of a systemically significant payment system or cause a systemic failure in the payments market;
• socially significant payment system — a payment system whose operational problems may undermine public confidence in payment systems as a mechanism for accepting payments and making cashless transactions.

The classification of payment systems will be used to establish requirements for payment systems and their operators.

The National Bank will assess the significance of payment systems based on the results of each calendar year.

“The decision is aimed at ensuring the reliable, secure and efficient functioning of the payments market by increasing its resilience through targeted requirements for systems of different levels of significance, primarily systemically and socially significant systems, disruptions to which can have the most serious impact on market stability and user confidence.

This approach will make it possible not only to identify and contain potential threats in a timely manner, but also to develop a proactive regulatory model adapted to the scale and specific nature of the risks associated with each payment system,” the National Bank’s press service explained.