Fintech Regulatory Sandboxes in Africa

The National Bank of Angola (BNA) launched its regulatory sandbox in 2020 through LISPA – the Payments System Innovation Lab. The sandbox allows financial institutions and fintechs to test products, services, and business models under BNA supervision, with each batch running for eight months. The programme covers fintech and insurtech, with participants receiving technical validation support, regulatory masterclasses on licensing and AML/CFT compliance, and mentorship.

Financial inclusion remains the driving force behind the initiative. Despite some progress, 53% of Angola’s adult population remains excluded from formal financial services — the highest rate in the SADC region. This will be a common goal for other sandboxes on this list.

Botswana’s regulatory sandbox is the newest arrival and was deployed in March 2026. The sandbox – built using our API technology – was launched in partnership with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the Botswana Innovation Hub (BIH). The initiative is accessible through Botswana’s Fintech Portal – a central hub for policymakers, investors, and entrepreneurs that also serves as the gateway for sandbox applications and regulatory guidance.

Notably, BIH chose to provide over 600 API endpoints spanning accounts, payments, KYC, consent management, and identity verification. The richer the testing environment, the more realistic the conditions, and the better the regulator’s ability to assess both the potential and the risks of a solution before it reaches consumers. 

The sandbox includes specific controls for activating and deactivating regulatory requirements during testing, with authentication options spanning multiple methods from simpler to more rigorous. The broader framework is aligned with international open banking protocols – regulators considering their own sandbox design may find it worthwhile to build to global standards from the outset.

The Bank of Botswana launched calls for fintech companies and financial institutions to participate in testing rounds, signaling a clear intention to move from building to experimentation.

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) launched its regulatory sandbox in 2019, with an initial focus on e-KYC solutions. Cohorts run for six months, extendable to twelve, and the sandbox is open to local, regional, and international fintech providers intending to deploy solutions in the Egyptian market.

The most significant development since the original launch is that Egypt now effectively runs two parallel sandboxes. In 2024, the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) established the RegLab under FRA Decision No. 163 of 2024 — a dedicated regulatory laboratory for startups in non-bank financial services, covering lending platforms, micro-insurance, investment, and crowdfunding tools. 

Ethiopia has two sandbox initiatives taking shape in parallel. The first is the ECMA capital markets sandbox, launched in August 2024 in partnership with UNDP and UK consultancy MPENSA, covering crowdfunding platforms, digital sub-brokers, and robo-advisors. Its first cohort received 40 applications. 

The second is an NBE-led sandbox for banking and fintech products, legally enabled by Banking Business Proclamation No. 1360/2024. A draft directive was published for consultation in November 2025, outlining testing periods of up to 12 months and a cohort-based application process. The NBE sandbox has not yet formally launched at time of writing, so we can expect either more drafts or a launch announcement in the coming year.

The Bank of Ghana launched its Regulatory and Innovation Sandbox in August 2022, following a successful pilot. Participants are typically admitted for six months, extendable by up to three months, with preference given to solutions in payments, remittances, crowdfunding, and micro-lending. Notably, foreign companies are not eligible to apply.

The sandbox has since expanded its scope significantly. In January 2026, the Bank of Ghana admitted six fintech firms — Transika, One Africa Securities, Mansu Technologies, Payafrione, Akuna Wallet, and Afrix Paycoin — into a dedicated one-year cohort focused specifically on validating proposed regulatory frameworks around virtual assets.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is also finalising a parallel sandbox framework for virtual asset service providers under the Virtual Asset Service Providers Act, 2025. As with Egypt, Ghana seems to be moving toward a dual-sandbox model.

The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) launched its regulatory sandbox in March 2019 under the Regulatory Sandbox Policy Guidance Note. Since then, the sandbox has become one of Africa’s most active. The CMA has successfully exited approximately 12 firms from the live testing environment to market.

Notable exits include Pezesha Africa Limited‘s crowdfunding platform, FourFront Management Limited’s robo-advisory solution, and Sycamore Capital Limited‘s digital unit trust app.

The Economic Development Board (EDB) has been granting Regulatory Sandbox Licences since 2016, with fintech applications gaining momentum from 2018. For fintech applications, a National Regulatory Sandbox Licence Committee evaluates submissions and assigns supervisory responsibility to either the Bank of Mauritius or the FSC depending on the nature of the activity.

What changed significantly in 2021 was the addition of two entirely separate sandbox pathways through the Finance Act 2021. The Bank of Mauritius gained the power to directly issue sandbox authorisations to financial institutions and payment system licensees, as well as to establish an innovation hub, while the FSC could issue its own authorisations for non-banking financial services such as peer-to-peer lending, crowdfunding, robo-advisory, and virtual assets. 

Mauritius now operates three distinct sandbox pathways covering different segments of the financial sector.

The Banco de Moçambique launched its regulatory sandbox in 2018 in partnership with FSD Mozambique, with an initial focus on financial inclusion and expanding access to digital financial services. What began as a pilot with pre-selected startups has since matured into a well-established programme running on a competitive, open-admission basis.

In March 2025, the Governor of the Banco de Moçambique launched the sixth edition of the sandbox, with five fintechs working on solutions based on blockchain and artificial intelligence applied to digital payments, credit, savings, financial education, and identification. A seventh edition followed in early 2026, explicitly framed within the new National Financial Inclusion Strategy 2025–2031. 

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) launched its regulatory sandbox, following the framework for Regulatory Sandbox Operations, in January 2021. Applications for the first cohort opened in December 2022, with a February 2023 deadline. The framework allows one cohort per year, with a maximum testing period of six months, after which the CBN decides whether a product should be introduced to the market.

In 2024, the CBN Governor called for its expansion, hoping to encourage competition and position Nigeria as a key fintech hub in Africa.

The National Bank of Rwanda (NBR) was one of the first regulators in Africa to implement a regulatory sandbox, with related provisions first embedded in its payment regulation in 2018. The new Regulation governing the regulatory sandbox introduced in 2022 expanded the scope beyond payments to cover all licensed financial institutions. Testing periods run up to 12 months, extendable in certain circumstances, with no application or participation fee.

The sandbox has run eight cohorts to date, spanning payments, crowdfunding, insurance, lending, aggregation, remittances, KYC, and currency swap services. Cohort 4 took a thematic approach focused exclusively on insurance products. The sandbox has since transitioned to a rolling application model, where applications are continuously open and assessed upon receipt.

The Bank of Sierra Leone (BSL) launched its Regulatory Sandbox Pilot Program in 2018 – the second country in Africa to do so. The initial cohort of 4 fintechs : InvestED, iCommit, MyPay and Noory, were selected through the Sierra Leone FinTech Challenge. Each company had 12 months to test and evaluate regulatory aspects of its respective technology and business model, with financial inclusion as an explicit objective. 

A second cohort followed through the 2019-2020 FinTech Challenge, with two finalists offered sandbox access under the theme of domestic resource mobilisation. The sandbox concept remains a key aspect of the BSL’s National Innovation & Digital Strategy, referred to as a “springboard” for digitizing the local economy. 

The Intergovernmental Fintech Working Group (IFWG) launched its Regulatory Sandbox (RSB) in 2020, with the first cohort drawing 52 applications. Testing periods run six months, with innovators working alongside relevant lead regulators to determine testing parameters. The sandbox remains open for applications on a rolling basis.

The sandbox sits within a broader IFWG Innovation Hub, which also includes a Regulatory Guidance Unit helping innovators navigate the regulatory landscape and an Innovation Accelerator focused on regulator-to-regulator learning on emerging technologies.

The Bank of Tanzania formally established its Fintech Regulatory Sandbox in 2024. The first application window opened in January 2025, making Tanzania one of the recent additions to the African sandbox landscape. In fact, this initiative was preceded by the very first sandbox launched by NMB Bank in 2021, who uses the Open Bank Project to provide the local fintech community access to APIs and tools. The Bank of Tanzania’s 2024 regulatory framework provides the broader, regulator-led counterpart to that earlier initiative.

BOT received 14 applications for Fintech Regulatory Sandbox testing, with applications for the second cohort open until October 2025. Eligible entities include financial service providers licensed by the BOT, fintech companies collaborating with licensed providers, and fintechs intending to offer BOT-regulated financial services.

The Bank of Uganda (BOU) launched its regulatory sandbox in 2021 under the National Payment Systems Sandbox Regulations. Shortly after launch, the first firm was admitted to test QR code technology. The sandbox is seen as a tool to collect data that can be used to draft guidelines, improve existing laws or regulations and issue new ones to mitigate the risks of new technologies. In 2022 the Bank of Uganda signalled openness to digital assets by inviting the Blockchain Association of Uganda to explore whether specific crypto business models were eligible for sandbox testing.

In June 2025, the Capital Markets Authority issued its own parallel Regulatory Sandbox Guidelines — covering capital markets products specifically, including securities and ancillary services. The CMA sandbox accepts applications on a rolling basis with a 45-working-day decision window, and extendable testing periods of 12 months. Uganda therefore now operates two complementary sandbox pathways, mirroring the dual-regulator structures emerging in other African countries. 

Bank of Uganda Governor Michael Atingi-Ego framed the sandboxes as tools for evidence-based regulation, saying this is “how we learn before we legislate, and how we design rules grounded in experience, not speculation”.

The Bank of Zambia (BoZ) launched its regulatory sandbox in 2021 under the Guidelines for Conducting Regulatory Sandbox, allowing small-scale testing of payment systems in a controlled environment. The sandbox is open to any applicant with an innovative product significantly different from what is currently available, with a focus on financial inclusion. Applicants must also specify which regulations should not apply during the testing phase and explain why.

Zambia has since added a capital markets sandbox. The Securities and Exchange Commission issued Guidelines in 2020 and the Regulatory Sandbox Framework for Capital Markets in December 2022. The SEC launched its first cohort in November 2021, admitting four innovations including peer-to-peer lending and crypto assets offerings.

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) released its Fintech Regulatory Sandbox Guidelines in 2021, with the sandbox going live in March 2021. The sandbox is open to fintech startups, financial institutions, and innovators already at proof-of-concept stage, though cryptocurrencies are explicitly excluded from its scope.

Since launch, the RBZ has reported 58 fintech registrations and 14 applications at various stages. Interestingly, a Carnegie Endowment analysis found that, while participants recognised the potential of the sandbox, not all of them felt confident regarding the safety of their intellectual property. This challenge is not exclusive to Zimbabwe and is quite common, so it is worth considering for regulators planning to run a national sandbox.

The boom of regulatory sandboxes in African countries is not likely to end as fintech cements itself in the financial ecosystem. The sandboxes preceding 2020 are not only still live, but are evolving and expanding to include new use cases that address different regional challenges. 

There are patterns emerging that may help regulators shape their own strategies, such as the dual sandbox models creating specialised environments for different verticals, or the use of sandboxes for advancing digital asset testing without the related risks. 

For now, this is the number one way that regulators in Africa can carefully select companies to join the market, as well as improve existing policies while keeping up with innovation and security standards.