Mutebile Confirms Payment System Failure at Bank of Uganda

By Max Patrick Ocaido

Bank of Uganda (BoU) Governor Emmanuel Mutebile has confirmed that the Central Bank suffered a payment system failure early this week.

In a brief statement, Mutebile said that indeed BoU had breakdown of the Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS) which prompted them to suspend processing of large sums of money.

“Bank of Uganda (BoU) experienced a temporary malfunction of the Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS). It should be noted that this WAS NOT a system crash as has been portrayed in the media,” Mutebile said.

He added that, “There was a brief disruption in transaction processing in the morning (Wednesday) which was resolved shortly thereafter. The Bank of Uganda payment systems remain stable, fully operational and reliable.”

Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS) is a specialist funds transfer system where the transfer of money or securities takes place from one bank to any other bank on a "real time" and on a "gross" basis.

RTGS systems are typically used for high-value transactions that require immediate clearing. In some countries the RTGS systems may be the only way to get same day cleared funds and so may be used when payments need to be settled urgently.