The Regulator of Digital Payments
The primary task of the National Bank of Georgia (NBG) is price stability; it must also ensure the stability and transparency of the financial system. Among the functions of Article 3 of the organic law are supervision of the financial sector and facilitating the safe, stable and efficient functioning of the payment system. This mandate is the foundation of the regulatory architecture of digital payments: the NBG sets the rules and determines who may operate on the payments market.
Under Article 48, the NBG has full authority to supervise commercial banks, microfinance organizations, currency exchange points, payment system operators, payment service providers, loan-providing entities and virtual asset service providers. It may issue decrees, impose additional requirements and restrictions, and apply sanctions. The Bank may refuse registration, licensing or authorization where this could threaten the stability of the financial sector, breach an international organization’s requirement, or hinder supervision of a transparent ownership structure. Anti-money-laundering supervision follows a risk-based approach. A publicly disseminated official document is deemed delivered on the 15th working day.
Registration of Payment System Operators and Service Providers
Article 48-2 directly concerns digital payments: the NBG supervises payment system operators and payment service providers through registration, its cancellation, inspection, determination of initial and ongoing capital, restrictions and sanctions. The rules on registration and cancellation, including fines, are defined by NBG normative acts, and fine amounts go to the state budget. The Bank determines the granting and withdrawal of significant-system and significant-provider statuses and may assign a system the status of a systemically or exceptionally important payment system, with corresponding capital and asset requirements. Administrators’ suitability criteria are set by a legal act.
Clearing, Settlement and the Management of Payment Systems
Under Article 63, the NBG develops and issues legal acts regulating clearing, settlement, payment services and payment systems, organizes their creation and deployment in Georgia, manages and administers them, assists banks and supervises the operating systems. The technical infrastructure of digital payments is thus directly subject to the central bank’s standards.