Vanuatu’s New Payment System to Support Digital Economy and Boost Financial Inclusion

People in Vanuatu are set to benefit from a new national digital payment platform, part of an ongoing transformation of the nation's financial infrastructure to build a modern, resilient financial system, which can support the digital economy and drive inclusive economic development.

Launched today by the Reserve Bank of Vanuatu, the VANKLIA system is expected to increase access to banking and financial services and encourage more people to open a bank account. The VANKLIA system has two main components: a Real-Time Gross Settlement component which carries out high value and high priority payments and settlement in real time; and an Automated Clearing House component which facilitates the clearing of low value, high volume electronic fund transfers for batch payments such as salary payments and instant fund transfers for retail payments.