A payment system can be described as a system and process to facilitate inter-bank clearing and settlement, resulting from various economic transactions within a country or between countries. Therefore, a national payment system is composed of service providers, mainly but not exclusively, the financial institutions, a set of payment instruments, such as credit cards, cheques, and systems and procedures that enable people to move funds and make payments.

In a country, a national payment system is at the heart of the financial sector and is one of the pillars of financial stability. The design and oversight of the National Payment System to ensure safety and efficiency is one of the core functions of the Bank of Namibia. As one of the measures to ensure safety and efficiency, the Bank operates a real-time gross settlement system, the Namibian Inter-bank Settlement System (NISS) to cater for inter-bank obligations arising from high value payment stream, retail payment stream and the cash leg of the security’s markets.