title: Algeria Payments Regulation Monitor | World Payments Monitor canonical: https://payments.gi/jurisdictions/algeria/ date_modified: 2026-10-21 publisher: Asymmetric Intelligence # Algeria DZ schema world-payments-v1 trajectory: not yet assessed Last updated 2026-10-21 · 14 modules · 71 sourced findings · 119 sources in the cumulative register 14 Modules baseline.modules[] 71 Findings modules[].findings[] 10 Tier-1 sources run_metadata.t1_source_count Confidence mix (sums to 14 rendered modules; click to filter) No modules moved this cycle. ## Jurisdiction brief ###### Latest update · 18 October 2026 #### Lead Signal Algeria's Monetary and Banking Council has authorised Djezzy Payment Services, a subsidiary of telecom operator Djezzy, as the first entity licensed under the non-bank Payment Service Provider category created by Law No. 23-09. The authorisation, granted on 23 September 2026, is preliminary: it establishes Djezzy Payment Services as a legal entity meeting incorporation conditions, but a 12-month window now runs during which the company must satisfy remaining operational conditions and apply for the final operating licence before any commercial payment service can launch. This is the first authorisation issued since the non-bank PSP category was created, and it opens a formal pathway for telco-led mobile money in a market that has until now run almost entirely through bank-operated rails. #### Other Developments The operational architecture behind this category is already defined. Regulation No. 25-02 of 14 April 2025 and Instruction No. 06-2025 of 17 August 2025 set the conditions a non-bank PSP must meet before the Monetary and Banking Council will authorise it, and they draw a firm functional boundary: a licensed PSP may open payment accounts, execute payments and transfers, and provide merchant payment services, but may not extend credit in the manner of a bank. Instruction No. 06-2025 further structures the consumer-facing product as a three-tier system of remotely opened payment accounts, capped respectively at DZD 100,000, DZD 500,000 and DZD 1,000,000, with cash deposit and withdrawal handled through an agent network rather than branch infrastructure. Djezzy Payment Services will operate inside this tiered-account, agent-based model once it clears the final-licence stage. #### Cross-Monitor Connections The PSP authorisation sits entirely within Algeria's fiat payment-services perimeter and carries no stablecoin or digital-asset dimension; Algeria's criminalisation of virtual-asset activity under Law No. 25-10 is a separate, structurally stable position this cycle and is not the subject of this development. #### Outlook The determinative date is 23 September 2027, the deadline by which Djezzy Payment Services must submit its application for the final operating licence. Whether Algeria's telco-led mobile money model becomes commercially live depends on Djezzy meeting the remaining operational conditions within that window; until then, the non-bank PSP category has a licensed entrant but no live commercial service. _4 earlier updates not shown here._ ###### Standing brief · as of 23 August 2026 _Written before the update above. Where they differ, the update is the more recent position._ #### Lead Signal The Bank of Algeria issued Instruction No. 06-2025 on 17 August 2025, establishing the country's first formal legal framework for non-bank Payment Service Providers and a tiered digital-wallet regime confined to dinar-denominated operation. The instruction defines three wallet levels with escalating verification requirements: Level 1 permits balances up to roughly $740 against basic identification, Level 2 extends to approximately $3,700 with proof of income, and Level 3 reaches around $7,400 under stricter verification. This is a bank-versus-non-bank-relevant development in its own right: it is the first time non-bank payment-institution and e-money-institution activity has had an explicit statutory home in Algeria, separate from bank-channel payment rails, and it sets a DZD-only operating constraint that keeps this new non-bank rail domestically contained. #### Other Developments **Corridor integration via PAPSS.** The Bank of Algeria joined the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System in 2025, connecting Algeria to more than 150 African banks for local-currency cross-border settlement, a move reported as aligned with African Continental Free Trade Area integration goals. This is a bank-channel corridor development, distinct from the non-bank retail-wallet build-out, and it extends Algeria's settlement reach across the continent without routing through hard-currency correspondent legs for intra-African flows. **Domestic interoperability build-out.** DZMobPay, the QR-code interoperability network operated by GIE Monétique, has grown from seven participating banks plus Algérie Poste toward a targeted fifteen banks by 2026, reporting 79,130 users and 11,873 merchants. This is bank-channel infrastructure aimed at merchant-side QR interoperability rather than a non-bank wallet product, and it sits alongside the new PSP framework as a second, parallel track of domestic payment modernisation. **Fintech ecosystem watch.** Yassir, a ride-hailing platform turned regional super-app with embedded financial services across North Africa, remains the most prominent named player in Algeria's early-stage fintech ecosystem this cycle; this is a dated, dashboard-level observation rather than a standalone commercial-intelligence explainer, reported at Low confidence from a single source. #### Cross-Monitor Connections Algeria's domestic payments build-out this cycle runs alongside, and is structurally connected to, a concurrent tightening of the country's crypto-asset environment tracked elsewhere in this fleet: the same period in which the Bank of Algeria stood up a formal non-bank PSP and wallet framework and joined PAPSS also saw a comprehensive criminal prohibition on crypto-asset activity enacted under separate legislation. Read together, the pattern suggests a bifurcated strategy of channelling payment activity into state-supervised domestic and pan-African rails while foreclosing informal crypto-based alternatives — an AML/CFT-relevant reading that belongs to the financial-integrity and crypto trackers rather than to a conclusion this monitor draws independently. AML/CFT and financial-crime findings specific to Algeria's payments environment are tracked by financial-integrity, and the digital-money dimension of Algeria's dinar-only wallet design is tracked by the crypto monitor; both are cross-referenced here rather than re-analysed. #### Outlook The Bank of Algeria has signalled a fintech regulatory sandbox for launch in the fourth quarter of 2026, targeting at least twenty innovators annually, though this remains at the proposed stage on a single Tier-4 source and is held at Low confidence. Watch for whether the sandbox launches as planned and whether DZMobPay's bank-network expansion reaches its targeted fifteen participating banks; both would be the clearest near-term signals of whether Algeria's dual-track strategy — domestic non-bank licensing plus pan-African settlement integration — continues to gain operational traction. trust tier: ai_unverified ###### Latest update · 18 October 2026 #### Regulatory Status Algeria's Monetary and Banking Council authorised Djezzy Payment Services, a subsidiary of telecom operator Djezzy, as the first entity under the non-bank Payment Service Provider category created by Law No. 23-09. The authorisation, dated 23 September 2026, is a preliminary establishment-stage grant; Djezzy Payment Services has 12 months to meet remaining operational conditions and apply for the final operating licence before it can launch commercially. The regulatory architecture behind this category is defined by Regulation No. 25-02 of 14 April 2025 and Instruction No. 06-2025 of 17 August 2025, which together set incorporation and operating conditions, confirm that a licensed non-bank PSP may open payment accounts and execute payments and merchant services without lending as a bank, and establish a three-tier remote payment-account structure capped at DZD 100,000, DZD 500,000 and DZD 1,000,000, supported by an agent network for cash handling. #### Outlook The key date is 23 September 2027, the deadline for Djezzy Payment Services' final-licence application. Algeria's non-bank PSP pathway now has its first authorised entrant, with telco-led mobile money the likely first commercial application once the final licence is secured. _4 earlier updates not shown here._ ###### Standing brief · as of 23 August 2026 _Written before the update above. Where they differ, the update is the more recent position._ #### Regulatory Status Algeria's payments environment is liberalising on the domestic-infrastructure and cross-border-corridor axes this cycle even as its crypto-asset environment tightens under separate legislation tracked elsewhere. The Bank of Algeria's Instruction No. 06-2025 establishes the first formal non-bank PSP and tiered digital-wallet framework, confined to dinar operation, with three verification tiers up to roughly $7,400. Separately, the Bank of Algeria's 2025 accession to the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System connects Algeria to more than 150 African banks for local-currency settlement, and the DZMobPay QR-interoperability network is expanding its bank-participant base toward a targeted fifteen institutions by 2026. Algeria's fintech ecosystem otherwise remains early-stage, with Yassir the most prominent named player on thin, Low-confidence evidence this cycle. #### Outlook A Bank of Algeria fintech regulatory sandbox is signalled for a fourth-quarter-2026 launch targeting at least twenty innovators annually, though this remains proposed-stage on a single Tier-4 source. The clearest near-term confirmation signals for Algeria's dual-track liberalisation strategy are DZMobPay reaching its fifteen-bank target and the first licence activity under the new non-bank PSP framework. 14 of 14 modules Signal Density Selections OR within a group, AND across groups. Press / to search. ### W1a Licensing, Authorisation & Market Access Probable confirmed 2026-07-04 Algeria's Monetary and Banking Law (Law No. 23-09, 2023) created a non-bank Payment Service Provider (PSP) status for the first time; the Bank of Algeria set incorporation, licensing and operating conditions via Regulation No. 25-02 of 14 April 2025 and detailed PSP operation via Instruction No. 06-2025 of 17 August 2025. On 23 September 2026 the Monetary and Banking Council authorised Djezzy Payment Services as the first entity under this new PSP category — a preliminary/establishment authorisation only, with a 12-month window to meet remaining operational conditions and apply for the final operating licence before commercial launch. Standing sub-brief · as of 23 August 2026 268 words · last cycle 2026-10-18 #### Licensing, Authorisation & Market Access Bank of Algeria Instruction No. 06-2025, dated 17 August 2025, is the country's first formal legal framework for non-bank Payment Service Providers, establishing a tiered digital-wallet regime that operates exclusively in dinars. The instruction creates three wallet tiers with escalating know-your-customer requirements: Level 1 permits balances up to approximately $740 against basic identification documentation; Level 2 raises the ceiling to roughly $3,700 conditional on proof of income; and Level 3 extends to around $7,400 under stricter verification standards. This is the first explicit statutory home for non-bank payment-institution and e-money-institution activity in Algeria, distinct from bank-channel payment rails, and its DZD-only design keeps the new non-bank wallet ecosystem domestically contained rather than opening a cross-border digital-wallet channel. The tiered structure functions as a graduated onboarding path: lower-tier wallets can be opened with minimal friction, while higher balances require progressively more verification, a design consistent with proportionate risk-based licensing seen in comparable emerging non-bank payment frameworks elsewhere. Because this is the first framework of its kind for Algeria, it should be read as a market-access-opening development for non-bank players specifically — banks already had an implicit path to payment-service provision, whereas non-bank PSPs and e-money issuers previously operated, if at all, without a dedicated licensing instrument. #### Outlook Watch for the first wave of licence applications or approvals under Instruction No. 06-2025, which would confirm the framework is being operationalised rather than existing only as published instruction, and for whether the Bank of Algeria's planned regulatory sandbox (targeted for the fourth quarter of 2026) is positioned to feed candidates into this new non-bank licensing track. Periodic update · new data 2026-10-18 #### Licensing, Authorisation & Market Access On 23 September 2026 the Monetary and Banking Council authorised Djezzy Payment Services as the first entity to hold status under Algeria's non-bank Payment Service Provider category, a category created by Law No. 23-09 (the Monetary and Banking Law). The authorisation granted is preliminary and establishment-stage only: it confirms the entity meets the incorporation conditions required to exist as a prospective PSP, but it is not the final operating licence. A 12-month window now runs from the date of authorisation, during which Djezzy Payment Services must meet the remaining operational conditions set by the Council and submit an application for the final operating licence; only once that final licence is granted can the entity offer payment services commercially. The substantive licensing framework was already in place before this authorisation. Regulation No. 25-02 of 14 April 2025 sets the incorporation and operating conditions a non-bank PSP applicant must satisfy to obtain Monetary and Banking Council authorisation. Instruction No. 06-2025 of 17 August 2025 then operationalises that framework: a licensed non-bank PSP may open payment accounts, execute payments and transfers, and provide merchant payment services, but it may not lend as a bank does. The instruction defines a three-tier structure for remotely opened payment accounts, with balance caps set at DZD 100,000 for the first tier, DZD 500,000 for the second, and DZD 1,000,000 for the third, and it sets out rules for cash deposit and withdrawal through an agent network rather than through branch infrastructure. This is the operating model Djezzy Payment Services will need to build out to clear the final-licence stage. The significance of the authorisation lies less in the single entity than in the fact that the pathway has now produced its first licensee. Algeria's payments market has historically run through bank-operated infrastructure; a non-bank PSP category with a telco-backed entrant signals the regulator's willingness to extend payment-service provision beyond the banking sector, with telco-led mobile money as the most plausible first commercial use case given Djezzy's existing subscriber base. #### Outlook The operative date to track is 23 September 2027, the deadline for Djezzy Payment Services to submit its final-licence application under the 12-month window attached to the preliminary authorisation. Until that application is filed and granted, the non-bank PSP category remains licensed-but-dormant in commercial terms: the regulatory architecture and the first authorised entrant both exist, but no payment service under this category is yet operating in the market. **4 earlier distinct update(s)** Periodic update · new data 2026-10-11 #### Licensing, Authorisation & Market Access The Bank of Algeria authorised Djezzy Payment Services, a subsidiary of Optimum Telecom Algérie, to incorporate as a payment service provider on 23 September 2026. This is reported as the first such incorporation authorisation under the payment-institution framework established by Règlement n°25-02 of 14 April 2025 and detailed by Instruction n°06-2025 of 17 August 2025, which sets out general conditions for PSP constitution and agrément across 36 articles, including payment-account and ring-fenced (cantonnement) account requirements for customer funds, and obligations on PSPs to preserve and archive identification and traceability data. The September authorisation is an incorporation authorisation, understood to sit prior to a final operating licence: Djezzy Payment Services is expected to apply for a full agrément within a defined window following the authorisation, and the authorisation would lapse if that application is not made within it. No confirmation is available of whether that application has yet been submitted. Alongside the market-access step, the Bank of Algeria has moved to standardise the reporting obligations that apply once an entity is authorised. Instruction n°11-26 of 7 October 2026 requires banks, financial establishments and PSPs to produce periodic accounting statements under a common nomenclature, applying Article 8 of Règlement n°25-07 of 24 July 2025 on the chart of accounts. A further instruction, reported around 6 October 2026, requires the same set of entities — banks, financial establishments and PSPs — to identify and codify a defined set of regulatory attributes describing the characteristics of their executed operations and counterparties, such as residency status and currency, enabling more granular analytical reporting back to the regulator. Read together, these three instruments describe a licensing perimeter that is no longer purely statutory: a named non-bank entrant has cleared an incorporation gate, and the accounting and attribute-reporting infrastructure that any authorised PSP will need to comply with is being built out in parallel, on the same basis as applies to banks. #### Outlook The operative question is whether Djezzy Payment Services converts its incorporation authorisation into a full agrément within the applicable window; that step, not the September authorisation itself, would mark Algeria's first live non-bank payment service provider. The accounting and attribute-codification instructions will also start producing a standardised reporting trail for PSPs that did not previously have an equivalent obligation, which should make the composition and activity of the licensed PSP population more visible in subsequent cycles. Periodic update · new data 2026-09-28 #### Licensing, Authorisation & Market Access The Bank of Algeria granted preliminary, non-bank PSP authorisation to Djezzy Payment Services on 23 September 2026, operating under the non-bank PSP framework created by the 2023 Monetary and Banking Law. This is a market-access development of first-order significance for Algeria's payments landscape: it establishes a working example of the licensing pathway through which a non-bank entity can secure authorisation to provide payment services, distinct from the country's traditionally bank-led payments architecture. Djezzy now has twelve months from the date of preliminary authorisation to complete its final PSP licensing application with the Bank of Algeria. Bank of Algeria Instruction 06-2025 is the operative regulatory instrument underpinning this authorisation, imposing capital requirements, wallet-tier structures and fund-segregation rules on PSPs. The fund-segregation requirement in particular establishes a safeguarding mechanism distinguishing customer funds from the PSP's own operational capital, a structural feature relevant to assessing counterparty risk for any entity transacting through a newly authorised non-bank PSP in this market. The bank-versus-non-bank distinction is squarely at the centre of this development: Djezzy's authorisation is explicitly a non-bank PI/EMI-style pathway rather than a banking licence, and Instruction 06-2025's tiered wallet and segregation rules appear calibrated specifically to that non-bank category rather than applying uniformly across both bank and non-bank PSP types. #### Outlook The key item to watch is whether Djezzy Payment Services completes its final PSP licensing application within the twelve-month window, which closes around 23 September 2027. A successful completion would establish the first full end-to-end precedent for the non-bank PSP licensing pathway under the 2023 Monetary and Banking Law framework, potentially opening the door for further non-bank market entrants to pursue the same route. Periodic update · new data 2026-09-22 #### Licensing, Authorisation & Market Access Algeria's payment-services licensing landscape moved materially this cycle with Bank of Algeria Instruction 06-2025, which establishes the country's first tiered fintech rulebook. The instruction creates a three-tier digital-wallet structure and sets a minimum capital requirement of 160 million DZD for payment service providers, marking a shift toward a structured, tiered licensing framework distinct from the existing bank-licensing regime. This detail rests on a single Tier-4 secondary source this cycle, and no primary Bank of Algeria text for the instruction has been retrieved, so the precise tier boundaries and capital-requirement scope remain provisional pending confirmation. The existing PSP approval process, evidenced independently at Tier-3 confidence, requires dual authorisation: applications must clear the Monetary and Banking Council before receiving final sign-off from the Governor of the Bank of Algeria. This dual-authorisation structure predates Instruction 06-2025 and continues to govern market access for new payment service providers seeking approval outside or alongside the new tiered wallet regime. A regulatory sandbox is separately reported to be targeted for 2026, planned to admit at least twenty innovators annually, which would represent Algeria's first formal fintech-innovation admission mechanism, though this too rests on the same single Tier-4 source as the wallet-tier detail. The bank-PSP versus non-bank payment-institution distinction is material here: the tiered wallet regime and its capital requirement appear targeted specifically at non-bank PSPs and e-money issuers, layered on top of the separate dual-authorisation process that continues to govern licensing generally. This creates two parallel tracks for market entry depending on institutional type, though the interaction between the tracks is not yet clarified by available sourcing. #### Outlook The key open question is whether Instruction 06-2025 will be published in a form retrievable at primary-source level, which would allow independent verification of the tier structure, the 160 million DZD capital figure, and the sandbox admission target. Watch for the first sandbox cohort announcement in 2026 as a concrete test of whether the innovation-admission mechanism functions as reported. Periodic update · new data 2026-09-14 #### Licensing, Authorisation & Market Access Bank of Algeria Instruction No. 06-2025 establishes Algeria's first formal payment-service-provider licensing category, covering digital wallets and agent networks, with a minimum capital requirement of DZD 160 million. This is a genuinely new market-access route: prior to this instruction, Algeria had no dedicated licensing framework for nonbank payment institutions, meaning digital-wallet and agent-network activity operated, if at all, outside a bespoke authorisation regime. The capital requirement sets a meaningful barrier to entry — DZD 160 million is a non-trivial threshold — which should be read as the regulator calibrating the new category toward institutional-grade entrants rather than a low-barrier fintech sandbox category, at least at first instance. A structurally important feature of this licensing category is that it is explicitly nonbank-PI/EMI in character: the instruction creates a distinct authorisation lane for payment institutions and e-money issuers separate from the bank-licensing regime, marking Algeria's first real bank-versus-nonbank regulatory bifurcation in payments. This distinction matters because it determines which prudential and conduct obligations attach to which class of entrant, and it signals that Algeria's regulator has moved from a bank-centric payments model toward one that formally accommodates nonbank players. Separately, a draft Law on Money and Credit is under legislative consideration that would expand the powers of the CMC (the Monetary and Credit Council) over banks and payment and settlement systems, and would introduce a Bank-of-Algeria-issued digital dinar. However, the current legislative stage of this draft law is genuinely unclear across the sources available this cycle — some reporting suggests partial adoption as early as 2023, while other coverage still describes it as pending — and this ambiguity should be treated as a primary-source verification gap rather than resolved in either direction. #### Outlook A regulatory sandbox for fintech innovators is targeted for a 2026 launch, expected to admit at least 20 fintech participants annually, though this sits at the proposed stage with only uncertain confidence. The clearest near-term signal to watch is whether the sandbox launches on schedule and whether the draft Law on Money and Credit's legislative status is clarified via a primary Algerian government source. 1 further periodic run re-emitted the standing brief unchanged and is not shown. **Sources and findings (6)** 1. T2 [https://www.tsa-algerie.com/paiement-electronique-lalgerie-franchit-une-etape-decisive/](https://www.tsa-algerie.com/paiement-electronique-lalgerie-franchit-une-etape-decisive/) retrieved 2026-07-04 2. T2 [https://www.horizons.dz/?p=278257](https://www.horizons.dz/?p=278257) retrieved 2026-07-04 3. T3 [https://www.startupresearcher.com/news/algeria-issues-new-rules-for-fintech-and-digital-wallet-providers](https://www.startupresearcher.com/news/algeria-issues-new-rules-for-fintech-and-digital-wallet-providers) 4. T3 [https://www.vipresse.com/paiement-electronique-la-banque-dalgerie-fixe-les-regles/](https://www.vipresse.com/paiement-electronique-la-banque-dalgerie-fixe-les-regles/) retrieved 2026-07-04 5. T2 [https://legal-doctrine.com/en/edition/banque-digitale-algerie-nouveau-reglement-relatif-aux-conditions-specifiques-dautorisation-de-constitution-dagrement-et-dexercice-dactivites-ab44ba951538574e401950229c0a059e](https://legal-doctrine.com/en/edition/banque-digitale-algerie-nouveau-reglement-relatif-aux-conditions-specifiques-dautorisation-de-constitution-dagrement-et-dexercice-dactivites-ab44ba951538574e401950229c0a059e) retrieved 2026-07-04 6. T3 [https://grokipedia.com/page/List_of_banks_in_Algeria](https://grokipedia.com/page/List_of_banks_in_Algeria) retrieved 2026-07-04 ### W1b Conduct, Safeguarding & Promotions limited signal Probable confirmed 2026-07-04 The PSP regime pairs licensing with conduct and safeguarding obligations: no overdrafts/interest, bank guarantees/professional liability insurance, transparent contracts and secure authentication. Standing sub-brief · as of 4 July 2026 209 words · last cycle 2026-09-22 #### Conduct, Safeguarding & Financial Promotions Instruction 06-2025 pairs Algeria's new PSP licensing gate with a distinct conduct and safeguarding layer. PSPs must secure bank guarantees or, as an alternative, professional liability insurance to protect customer funds — a safeguarding mechanism functionally analogous to (though structured differently from) the trust-account and insurance approaches seen in other WPM jurisdictions. Providers must also offer clear contracts setting out services and fees, give customers free access to balances and transaction history, and apply strong customer authentication to risky transactions. A structural line separates PSPs from banks under the same instruction: payment accounts held with a PSP cannot bear interest or offer overdrafts. This constrains PSP wallets to a pure payment-account function rather than allowing them to evolve into deposit-taking substitutes, preserving the licensing boundary between the bank_psp and nonbank_pi_emi tiers that recurs across W1a, W3, W4 and W12. #### Outlook Enforcement practice — how bank guarantees are verified, and how disputes over fee transparency or authentication failures are adjudicated — is the open question for the next cycle. As the PSP population grows under the W1a licensing gate, the safeguarding regime's practical robustness, rather than its statutory design, will determine whether Algerian consumers experience a materially different protection standard from the pre-2025 unregulated period. Periodic update · new data 2026-09-22 #### Conduct, Safeguarding & Financial Promotions The safeguarding dimension of Bank of Algeria Instruction 06-2025 centres on a fund-segregation mandate: non-bank payment service providers must confine customer funds to a single designated bank, a mechanism intended to insulate user balances from PSP insolvency or operational failure. This is reported at Tier-4 confidence with no primary instruction text retrieved this cycle, so the precise mechanics of the segregation requirement — whether it extends to daily reconciliation, independent audit, or a trust-account structure comparable to other emerging-market e-money regimes — are not yet confirmed. Separately, and independently sourced at Tier-3 confidence, a dedicated consumer-protection legal text for digital payments is reported to be in preparation, with local reporting indicating promulgation is expected before the end of 2026. This would be Algeria's first dedicated digital-payments consumer-protection instrument, addressing a gap that has previously been covered only indirectly through general banking-sector conduct rules. The reported text has not been confirmed via a primary source, and no detail on its specific content — complaint-handling mechanisms, disclosure requirements, or liability allocation for unauthorised transactions — has surfaced this cycle. Taken together, the fund-segregation requirement under Instruction 06-2025 and the reported consumer-protection text represent two distinct conduct-and-safeguarding threads moving in the same period: one addressing institutional solvency risk to customer funds, the other addressing the broader consumer-facing legal framework for digital payments. Neither is yet confirmed to primary-source text. #### Outlook The consumer-protection text's promulgation, if it occurs before year end as reported, would be the clearest test of this cycle's signal. Watch also for any Bank of Algeria clarification of how the fund-segregation mechanism under Instruction 06-2025 will be supervised or audited in practice. **1 earlier distinct update(s)** Periodic update · new data 2026-09-14 #### Conduct, Safeguarding & Financial Promotions The conduct and safeguarding backbone of Algeria's new PSP regime rests on two pillars introduced by Bank of Algeria Instruction No. 06-2025: a tiered KYC and wallet-limit structure, and a mandatory fund-segregation requirement. The tiering is granular — Level 1 permits transactions up to roughly $740 with only basic identification, Level 2 raises the ceiling to roughly $3,700 but requires proof of income alongside official identification, and Level 3 permits up to roughly $7,400 but requires video-interview verification. This graduated structure is a conventional risk-based approach to onboarding friction, calibrating verification intensity to transaction-value exposure. The mandatory fund-segregation requirement is the safeguarding mechanism proper: licensed PSPs are required to segregate customer funds, which is the standard consumer-protection mechanism against a PSP's own insolvency or misuse of customer balances. Taken together with the KYC tiering, this represents Algeria's first substantive conduct-and-safeguarding framework for nonbank payment institutions — prior to this instruction there was no comparable regime governing how nonbank PSPs must treat customer funds or verify customer identity at scale. A further structural constraint worth noting under this module is the dinar-only, national-territory-only operating requirement also imposed by the same instruction: PSP services must be provided exclusively in Algerian dinars and within Algeria's national territory. This has the practical effect of excluding crypto and stablecoin integration from the conduct framework entirely, a boundary that applies uniformly to the new nonbank PI/EMI licensing category rather than being a bank-specific carve-out. #### Outlook The key open question for this module is how the tiered KYC and segregation requirements are actually supervised and enforced in practice once PSPs begin operating under the new licence category — the structure exists on paper as of this cycle, but operational enforcement intensity is not yet observable from the sources available. **Sources and findings (5)** 1. T2 [https://www.horizons.dz/?p=278257](https://www.horizons.dz/?p=278257) retrieved 2026-07-04 2. T3 [https://www.startupresearcher.com/news/algeria-issues-new-rules-for-fintech-and-digital-wallet-providers](https://www.startupresearcher.com/news/algeria-issues-new-rules-for-fintech-and-digital-wallet-providers) 3. T3 [https://algeriezoom.com/paiement-electronique-la-banque-d-algerie-muscle-la-securite/](https://algeriezoom.com/paiement-electronique-la-banque-d-algerie-muscle-la-securite/) retrieved 2026-07-04 4. T2 [https://www.tsa-algerie.com/e-banking-cartes-bancaires-mobile-banking-ce-que-les-banques-algeriennes-peuvent-offrir/](https://www.tsa-algerie.com/e-banking-cartes-bancaires-mobile-banking-ce-que-les-banques-algeriennes-peuvent-offrir/) retrieved 2026-07-04 5. T3 [https://algeriatech.news/national-cybersecurity-strategy-2025-2029-analysis/](https://algeriatech.news/national-cybersecurity-strategy-2025-2029-analysis/) retrieved 2026-07-04 ### W2 Stablecoins & Digital Money Probable confirmed 2026-07-04 Algeria maintains one of the world's strictest positions on digital assets: a comprehensive criminal ban on all cryptocurrency and stablecoin activity (Law 25-10, July 2025), with no regulatory pathway for issuance, custody, or redemption. Standing sub-brief · as of 4 July 2026 264 words · last cycle 2026-07-04 #### Stablecoins & Digital Money Algeria maintains one of the strictest positions on digital assets in the WPM's jurisdictional scope. Law No. 25-10, enacted 24 July 2025 as an amendment to the AML law 05-01, prohibits under Article 6a the issuance, purchase, sale, possession and promotion of digital currencies, extending a ban first introduced by the 2018 Finance Law. No regulatory pathway exists for stablecoin issuance, custody or redemption, and banks are required to actively block virtual-asset-linked operations rather than merely decline to support them. Violations carry criminal penalties of two months to one year imprisonment and fines of 200,000 to 1,000,000 DZD, with enhanced penalties where organised-crime links are established. The confidence rating on this development was reconciled downward this cycle from a research-asserted 'Confirmed' to 'High', reflecting that only a single T3 specialist-media anchor was located rather than two independent T1-2 primary sources — a methodological note rather than a substantive doubt about the ban's existence. Commercially, the ban forecloses any stablecoin or crypto-payment-rail product strategy in Algeria for the foreseeable term; PSPs and banks must instead build active compliance controls to detect and block virtual-asset flows, adding a screening burden without a corresponding product opportunity. #### Outlook Given the comprehensiveness of the ban and its criminal, rather than merely administrative, enforcement architecture, no near-term liberalisation is anticipated. The more relevant forward question is enforcement intensity — how actively banks are required to screen and block virtual-asset flows — which sits at the boundary with the AML/CFT framework under Law 25-07 (see W11) and is flagged for substantive follow-up with the Financial Intelligence Monitor. no periodic updates on record for this sub-brief ** Sources and findings (5)** 1. T3 [https://news.bitcoin.com/algeria-enacts-sweeping-ban-on-crypto-use-exchange-and-mining/](https://news.bitcoin.com/algeria-enacts-sweeping-ban-on-crypto-use-exchange-and-mining/) retrieved 2026-07-04 2. T3 [https://www.plasma.to/learn/tools/stablecoin-regulation-map/algeria](https://www.plasma.to/learn/tools/stablecoin-regulation-map/algeria) retrieved 2026-07-04 3. T3 [https://freemanlaw.com/cryptocurrency/algeria/](https://freemanlaw.com/cryptocurrency/algeria/) retrieved 2026-07-04 4. T3 [https://coinfomania.com/algeria-cryptocurrency-ban-law-25-10/](https://coinfomania.com/algeria-cryptocurrency-ban-law-25-10/) retrieved 2026-07-04 5. T3 [https://algeriatech.news/digital-payment-services-regulation-consumer-rights-algeria-2026/](https://algeriatech.news/digital-payment-services-regulation-consumer-rights-algeria-2026/) ### W3 Operational Resilience & Critical Infrastructure Probable confirmed 2026-07-04 Algeria adopted its first comprehensive cybersecurity governance architecture in 2025-2026, designating financial services as critical information infrastructure with a 5-day breach-reporting window. Kept on Dataprotection.gi, not restated here: data and cloud switching obligations on service providers, including notice periods and charges. [Open this jurisdiction's page on Dataprotection.gi →](https://dataprotection.gi/jurisdictions/algeria/) Standing sub-brief · as of 4 July 2026 187 words · last cycle 2026-09-14 #### Operational Resilience & Critical Infrastructure Algeria adopted its first comprehensive cybersecurity governance architecture in the 2025-2026 window. Presidential Decree No. 25-321 (30 December 2025) and Decree No. 26-07 (7 January 2026) together designate financial services as critical information infrastructure, introducing incident-reporting obligations to the national cybersecurity authority ASSI and a new five-day breach-reporting window. Decree 26-07 additionally mandates dedicated cybersecurity units at public institutions, giving the framework an organisational as well as a reporting dimension. The Bank of Algeria is confirmed as the sectoral CII regulator for banking under this architecture, but bank-specific reporting-timeframe detail beyond the general cross-sector five-day window was not confirmed by a primary source this cycle — a gap flagged for the next research pass rather than an indication that no such detail exists. #### Outlook The framework is new enough that implementation practice — how the five-day window is actually enforced against banks and PSPs, and whether sector-specific timeframes are subsequently issued — remains to be observed. This sits alongside the new PSP licensing regime (W1a) and the expanding fintech layer (W6) as a compounding compliance load for smaller non-bank entrants in particular. Periodic update · new data 2026-09-14 #### Operational Resilience & Critical Infrastructure SATIM, Algeria's national payment-switch operator, upgraded its instant-payment switch in early 2025, enabling immediate fund crediting to merchants in place of a prior settlement window that could extend up to 72 hours. This is a bank-and-scheme-level infrastructure change: SATIM sits at the scheme layer connecting Algeria's banks, and this upgrade moves the country's payment rails beyond card and ATM transaction settlement toward genuine real-time crediting, a meaningful resilience and efficiency improvement for the underlying settlement infrastructure. The practical significance of moving from a 72-hour settlement window to immediate crediting should not be understated: a multi-day settlement lag creates working-capital strain for merchants and introduces settlement risk that a real-time system substantially reduces. This upgrade sits within the bank-operated scheme layer of Algeria's payments infrastructure, distinct from the nonbank PI/EMI licensing changes occurring under Instruction 06-2025, and represents incumbent infrastructure modernisation running in parallel with the new nonbank market-access framework. #### Outlook The item to watch is whether the SATIM instant-payment upgrade extends coverage to the new class of nonbank PSPs licensed under Instruction 06-2025, which would determine whether real-time settlement becomes a universal feature of Algeria's payments infrastructure or remains confined to the bank-operated rail. **Sources and findings (5)** 1. T3 [https://algeriatech.news/national-cybersecurity-strategy-2025-2029-analysis/](https://algeriatech.news/national-cybersecurity-strategy-2025-2029-analysis/) retrieved 2026-07-04 2. T3 [https://techcabal.com/2025/12/30/cyber-breaches-became-harder-to-hide/](https://techcabal.com/2025/12/30/cyber-breaches-became-harder-to-hide/) retrieved 2026-07-04 3. T3 [https://techafricanews.com/2026/01/26/algeria-strengthens-cybersecurity-framework-to-protect-national-infrastructure/](https://techafricanews.com/2026/01/26/algeria-strengthens-cybersecurity-framework-to-protect-national-infrastructure/) retrieved 2026-07-04 4. T3 [https://algeriatech.news/collaborative-cyber-defense-threat-intelligence/](https://algeriatech.news/collaborative-cyber-defense-threat-intelligence/) retrieved 2026-07-04 5. T3 [https://generisonline.com/an-overview-of-cybersecurity-regulations-in-algeria-compliance-reporting-and-penalties/](https://generisonline.com/an-overview-of-cybersecurity-regulations-in-algeria-compliance-reporting-and-penalties/) retrieved 2026-07-04 ### W4 Scheme & Network Compliance Probable confirmed 2026-07-04 Domestic card-scheme compliance runs through SATIM/GIE Monétique; a May 2026 update opens acceptance of foreign-issued cards and interoperable QR payments. Standing sub-brief · as of 4 July 2026 183 words · last cycle 2026-07-04 #### Scheme & Network Compliance Domestic card-scheme governance in Algeria runs through SATIM, which operates the Carte Interbancaire (CIB) debit-card scheme and clears national CIB payments across sixteen banks plus Algérie Poste, and GIE Monétique, established in June 2014 to regulate the interbank monetics system and define the missions and attributions of all system actors. A material liberalisation followed on 14 May 2026: under Article 7 of Règlement 2020-01, the Bank of Algeria authorised Algerian e-merchants to accept foreign-issued bank cards for the first time, an export-facing acceptance capability that had previously been blocked, and extended QR-code payment interoperability between distinct institutions. Banks must file a prior declaration and observe a 15-day pre-launch period before offering the new acceptance capability. #### Outlook The foreign-card-acceptance opening is likely to be a meaningful near-term driver for Algerian e-commerce and tourism-adjacent merchants, subject to how quickly acquiring banks work through the 15-day declaration process. Chargeback and dispute-resolution mechanics for the newly permitted foreign-card flows were not located this cycle and remain an open gap (see W8) that will bear on how smoothly the opening translates into merchant confidence. no periodic updates on record for this sub-brief ** Sources and findings (5)** 1. T2 [https://www.giemonetique.dz/](https://www.giemonetique.dz/) retrieved 2026-07-04 2. T2 [https://cashmanagement.bnpparibas.com/atlas-countries/algeria](https://cashmanagement.bnpparibas.com/atlas-countries/algeria) retrieved 2026-07-04 3. T2 [https://maghrebemergent.news/fr/algerie-les-e-commercants-pourront-encaisser-des-cartes-bancaires-etrangeres/](https://maghrebemergent.news/fr/algerie-les-e-commercants-pourront-encaisser-des-cartes-bancaires-etrangeres/) retrieved 2026-07-04 4. T2 [https://maghrebemergent.news/fr/algerie-les-e-commercants-pourront-encaisser-des-cartes-bancaires-etrangeres/](https://maghrebemergent.news/fr/algerie-les-e-commercants-pourront-encaisser-des-cartes-bancaires-etrangeres/) retrieved 2026-07-04 5. T2 [https://usa.visa.com/partner-with-us/pci-dss-compliance-information.html](https://usa.visa.com/partner-with-us/pci-dss-compliance-information.html) retrieved 2026-07-04 ### W5 Payment Corridor Dynamics Probable confirmed 2026-07-04 Domestic instant/QR mobile-payment interoperability (DZMobPay, run by GIE Monetique) is expanding from 7-9 banks toward a targeted 15 banks in 2026; Algeria is also a PAPSS member, connecting to 150+ banks across Africa for cross-border settlement in local currencies. Standing sub-brief · as of 23 August 2026 193 words · last cycle 2026-09-22 #### Payment Corridor Dynamics The Bank of Algeria joined the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System in 2025, connecting the country to more than 150 African banks for local-currency cross-border settlement. This membership is reported as consistent with Algeria's broader African Continental Free Trade Area integration goals, and it represents a bank-channel corridor development distinct from the non-bank retail-wallet framework introduced under Instruction No. 06-2025. PAPSS settlement in local currencies allows participating banks to clear cross-border African payments without routing through hard-currency correspondent legs, a structural change to how intra-African corridor flows can be settled for Algerian counterparties. This corridor development sits at bank level rather than non-bank level, meaning its immediate beneficiaries are Algerian banks with existing correspondent and settlement relationships rather than the newly-licensable non-bank PSPs; the two tracks — PAPSS membership and the domestic non-bank PSP framework — are parallel rather than integrated at this stage, on the evidence available this cycle. #### Outlook Watch for evidence of transaction volume actually clearing through the PAPSS corridor for Algerian counterparties, and for whether any bridge is built between PAPSS settlement rails and the domestic non-bank PSP and QR-interoperability tracks (DZMobPay) reported elsewhere this cycle. Periodic update · new data 2026-09-22 #### Payment Corridor Dynamics Algeria's domestic payment-corridor infrastructure is expanding this cycle. GIE Monetique, the interbank card and mobile-payment switch operator, plans to extend QR-code mobile-payment interoperability to fifteen banks during 2026, a substantial increase from the seven banks plus Algerie Poste that were interoperable as of late 2025. This expansion is reported at Tier-3 confidence with a direct quote confirming the plan, representing a structural, government-led push toward broader domestic payment-rail integration rather than an isolated bank-level initiative. On the cross-border dimension, Algeria's membership in the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) is reported to connect the country to more than 150 banks across Africa, enabling cross-border settlement in local currencies without reliance on hard-currency correspondent chains for intra-African trade. This finding rests on a single Tier-4 source and has not been independently corroborated this cycle, so the specific connectivity figure should be treated as provisional pending further sourcing. Together, the domestic QR-interoperability expansion and the PAPSS cross-border connection point toward a broader Algerian strategy of building out both the domestic instant-payment rail and regional settlement connectivity in the same period, though the two developments are independently sourced and not formally linked in the evidence base. #### Outlook The domestic interoperability expansion is the more concrete near-term signal, given its Tier-3 sourcing and specific numeric target; the PAPSS connectivity claim would benefit from independent corroboration in a future cycle. Watch for confirmation of whether the fifteen-bank interoperability target is met within the stated 2026 timeframe. **1 earlier distinct update(s)** Periodic update · new data 2026-09-14 #### Payment Corridor Dynamics Bank of Algeria joined the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System in August 2025, connecting Algeria to intra-African local-currency settlement infrastructure spanning more than 150 banks. PAPSS membership is a supranational-layer development that reduces Algeria's reliance on intermediary hard currencies — typically the US dollar or euro — for settling intra-African trade, since PAPSS enables direct local-currency settlement between participating central banks rather than routing through a third-currency correspondent chain. This membership supports Algeria's broader integration objectives under the African Continental Free Trade Area, since a functioning local-currency settlement corridor is a practical precondition for the kind of intra-African trade volume growth that AfCFTA aims to unlock. From a corridor-dynamics perspective, this represents a genuinely new settlement pathway for Algeria's cross-border trade-related payment flows, distinct from and complementary to the domestic PSP-licensing and instant-payment developments occurring at the national level this cycle. #### Outlook The key development to watch is the pace and volume of actual settlement activity flowing through the PAPSS corridor now that Algeria has joined, which would indicate whether membership translates into a meaningful shift in how Algeria's intra-African trade payments are actually settled, as opposed to remaining a structural membership with limited transaction volume. 1 further periodic run re-emitted the standing brief unchanged and is not shown. **Sources and findings (4)** 1. T3 [https://www.lightspark.com/knowledge/algeria-instant-payments](https://www.lightspark.com/knowledge/algeria-instant-payments) retrieved 2026-07-04 2. T3 [https://algeriatech.news/digital-payment-services-regulation-consumer-rights-algeria-2026/](https://algeriatech.news/digital-payment-services-regulation-consumer-rights-algeria-2026/) 3. T2 [https://cashmanagement.bnpparibas.com/atlas-countries/algeria](https://cashmanagement.bnpparibas.com/atlas-countries/algeria) retrieved 2026-07-04 4. T3 [https://thefintechtimes.com/algerias-fintech-ecosystem-in-2026-by-building-momentum/](https://thefintechtimes.com/algerias-fintech-ecosystem-in-2026-by-building-momentum/) ### W6 Industry Structure & Commercial Probable confirmed 2026-07-04 The Algerian financial system remains bank-dominated with a nascent 30-35 startup fintech/PSP layer now formally permitted to compete. Standing sub-brief · as of 4 July 2026 205 words · last cycle 2026-07-04 #### Industry Structure & Commercial Dynamics The Algerian financial system remains heavily bank-dominated. Six state-owned banks control approximately 95% of the commercial banking market, with foreign subsidiaries — including Citibank, HSBC, BNP Paribas, Société Générale and Gulf-country banks — forming a comparatively small tier. The IMF's 2025 Article IV consultation assessed the sector overall as liquid and solvent, but flagged non-performing loans at 20.7% of gross loans at end-2024, concentrated in the public banks that dominate market share. A 30-35 firm independent fintech/PSP layer is now formally permitted to compete alongside the state banks under the new PSP licensing regime established this cycle (see W1a), representing the first legally recognised non-bank competitive tier in the sector. Structural dominance by the state banks is unlikely to shift in the near term, however, given both the scale of the incumbents and the modest venture-capital base available to challengers (see W13). #### Outlook The key structural question is whether the newly licensed fintech/PSP layer can achieve meaningful transaction-volume share against 95%-dominant incumbents within a market where venture funding remains thin. Absent a step-change in capital availability, incremental product-level competition, such as digital wallets and e-commerce acceptance, rather than share erosion at the state banks, is the more likely near-term pattern. no periodic updates on record for this sub-brief ** Sources and findings (5)** 1. T3 [https://www.privacyshield.gov/ps/article?id=Algeria-Banking-Systems](https://www.privacyshield.gov/ps/article?id=Algeria-Banking-Systems) retrieved 2026-07-04 2. T3 [https://grokipedia.com/page/List_of_banks_in_Algeria](https://grokipedia.com/page/List_of_banks_in_Algeria) retrieved 2026-07-04 3. T3 [https://thefintechtimes.com/algerias-fintech-ecosystem-in-2026-by-building-momentum/](https://thefintechtimes.com/algerias-fintech-ecosystem-in-2026-by-building-momentum/) 4. T3 [https://www.magstartup.com/en/10-algerian-startups-to-watch-in-2026-beyond-the-noise/](https://www.magstartup.com/en/10-algerian-startups-to-watch-in-2026-beyond-the-noise/) retrieved 2026-07-04 5. T3 [https://algeriatech.news/cybersecurity-startup-ecosystem-11m-fund-algeria-2026/](https://algeriatech.news/cybersecurity-startup-ecosystem-11m-fund-algeria-2026/) retrieved 2026-07-04 ### W7 Legal & Litigation Probable confirmed 2026-07-04 Payments-adjacent litigation centres on large bank-fraud and unauthorised cross-border transfer cases prosecuted before specialised economic/financial courts. Standing sub-brief · as of 4 July 2026 211 words · last cycle 2026-07-04 #### Legal & Litigation Payments-adjacent litigation in Algeria currently centres on two large cross-border enforcement matters. Before the pôle pénal économique et financier of Sidi M'hamed, prosecutors have sought heavy penalties against managers of a call-centre company alleged to have conducted illegal banking transactions in collaboration with Lithuanian PSP Paysera, which is not authorised to operate in Algeria; potential fines against Paysera-linked subsidiaries could run up to eight times the value of the fraudulent transactions. This remains at the prosecution-request stage, with sentences sought but not yet a final verdict. Separately, a fraud scheme using falsified SWIFT documents and a shell company targeted four Algerian banks — Société Générale Algérie, Al Salam Bank, Bank Al Baraka and a Gulf bank — for an estimated €200 million, undetected until an October 2023 complaint by Al Salam Bank. The Chéraga tribunal has already delivered a landmark verdict, sentencing a Turkish national to five years and an Algerian accomplice to three years. #### Outlook Both cases illustrate a common vulnerability: authentication and authorisation gaps in cross-border correspondent-message handling and unlicensed foreign-PSP access. The Paysera case's eventual verdict will be a useful marker of how Algerian courts treat unauthorised cross-border e-wallet operations under the new PSP licensing perimeter (see W1a), and merits tracking into the next cycle. no periodic updates on record for this sub-brief ** Sources and findings (5)** 1. T3 [https://www.algerie360.com/affaire-paysera-algerie-de-lourdes-peines-pour-fraude-bancaire-requises/](https://www.algerie360.com/affaire-paysera-algerie-de-lourdes-peines-pour-fraude-bancaire-requises/) retrieved 2026-07-04 2. T3 [https://dnalgerie.com/200-millions-deuros-quatre-banques-algeriennes-victimes-dune-fraude/](https://dnalgerie.com/200-millions-deuros-quatre-banques-algeriennes-victimes-dune-fraude/) retrieved 2026-07-04 3. T3 [https://lessentielinfo.com/politique/56258/](https://lessentielinfo.com/politique/56258/) retrieved 2026-07-04 4. T3 [https://www.afrik.com/fraude-en-algerie-la-justice-frappe-fort](https://www.afrik.com/fraude-en-algerie-la-justice-frappe-fort) retrieved 2026-07-04 5. T3 [https://news.bitcoin.com/algeria-enacts-sweeping-ban-on-crypto-use-exchange-and-mining/](https://news.bitcoin.com/algeria-enacts-sweeping-ban-on-crypto-use-exchange-and-mining/) retrieved 2026-07-04 ### W8 Merchant Acquiring & Risk Probable confirmed 2026-07-04 Merchant acquiring is anchored on SATIM CIB/EDAHABIA and TPE infrastructure; a May 2026 update newly permits acceptance of foreign-issued cards. Standing sub-brief · as of 4 July 2026 173 words · last cycle 2026-07-04 #### Merchant Acquiring & Risk Merchant acquiring in Algeria is built on SATIM's CIB and EDAHABIA card infrastructure and point-of-sale terminal networks. The Bank of Algeria's 14 May 2026 regulatory update, issued under Article 7 of Règlement 2020-01, is the acquiring-side counterpart to the W4 scheme opening: it authorises Algerian e-merchants to accept foreign-issued bank cards for the first time, an export-facing lever previously blocked, and extends QR-code payment interoperability between distinct institutions, with acquiring banks required to file a prior declaration and observe a 15-day pre-launch period. No chargeback or dispute-resolution mechanics applicable to the newly permitted foreign-card acceptance were located this cycle; only high-level acceptance-infrastructure detail was surfaced, leaving operational risk-management practice for the new flows as an open research gap. #### Outlook How acquiring banks operationalise dispute handling for foreign-card transactions, an area with no located regulatory detail this cycle, will materially shape merchant confidence in the new acceptance capability. This is flagged for direct follow-up in the next research pass, alongside monitoring of actual e-merchant uptake following the 15-day declaration window. no periodic updates on record for this sub-brief ** Sources and findings (4)** 1. T2 [https://maghrebemergent.news/fr/algerie-les-e-commercants-pourront-encaisser-des-cartes-bancaires-etrangeres/](https://maghrebemergent.news/fr/algerie-les-e-commercants-pourront-encaisser-des-cartes-bancaires-etrangeres/) retrieved 2026-07-04 2. T2 [https://professionnels.societegenerale.dz/fr/banque-quotidien/vos-services-quotidien/terminal-paiement-electronique-tpe/](https://professionnels.societegenerale.dz/fr/banque-quotidien/vos-services-quotidien/terminal-paiement-electronique-tpe/) retrieved 2026-07-04 3. T3 [https://www.transfi.com/blog/exploring-local-payment-methods-and-digital-finance-in-algeria](https://www.transfi.com/blog/exploring-local-payment-methods-and-digital-finance-in-algeria) retrieved 2026-07-04 4. T3 [https://observalgerie.com/2025/05/18/economie/fin-du-cash-et-banques-en-ligne-lalgerie-change-les-regles/](https://observalgerie.com/2025/05/18/economie/fin-du-cash-et-banques-en-ligne-lalgerie-change-les-regles/) retrieved 2026-07-04 ### W9 Product Innovation & Market Development Probable confirmed 2026-07-04 Product innovation is led by the new PSP/digital-bank tracks, SATIM's instant-switch upgrade, ISO 20022 migration, and a targeted 2026 regulatory sandbox. Horizon · 2026-Q4 (±year) Algeria regulatory sandbox launch under Fintech Strategy 2024-2030_proposed · TT3_ Horizon · 2026-Q4 (±year) Algeria regulatory sandbox launch under Fintech Strategy 2024-2030_proposed · TT3_ Standing sub-brief · as of 23 August 2026 180 words · last cycle 2026-10-04 #### Product Innovation & Market Development DZMobPay, the QR-code interoperability network run by GIE Monétique, is expanding from seven participating banks plus Algérie Poste toward a targeted fifteen banks by 2026, with reported usage of 79,130 users and 11,873 merchants. This is bank-channel product infrastructure — a shared QR-code standard enabling interoperable merchant acceptance across participating institutions — rather than a non-bank wallet product, and it runs as a parallel development track to the non-bank PSP framework introduced under Instruction No. 06-2025. The reported user and merchant counts, while modest in absolute terms, indicate the network has moved from pilot to operating status with multiple participating banks, and the stated target of fifteen banks by 2026 (up from seven plus Algérie Poste) implies planned further onboarding this year. This positions DZMobPay as Algeria's principal domestic instant-payment/QR-interoperability initiative on the evidence available this cycle. #### Outlook Watch for confirmation that DZMobPay reaches its targeted fifteen-bank participation by year-end 2026, and for user/merchant growth figures beyond the 79,130 users and 11,873 merchants reported this cycle, which would indicate whether adoption is accelerating or plateauing. Periodic update · new data 2026-09-28 #### Product Innovation & Market Development The Groupement d'Intérêt pour la Monétique is expanding Algeria's DZ MobPay QR-code interoperable mobile payments scheme from nine to a targeted fifteen participating banks and Algérie Poste during 2026. This scheme provides domestic interoperability for QR-code-based mobile payments across participating institutions, and its expansion represents a meaningful scaling of shared payments infrastructure independent of any single bank's or PSP's own product roadmap. Alongside this domestic expansion, integration with the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System is reported, extending the scheme's relevance beyond purely domestic settlement toward cross-border capability within the broader African payments corridor context. This infrastructure-scaling development sits alongside, but is distinct from, this cycle's non-bank PSP licensing activity: where the Djezzy authorisation represents a new market-access route for an individual non-bank entity, the DZ MobPay expansion represents a shared-infrastructure interoperability initiative spanning multiple existing banks and Algérie Poste. Together they point toward a more diversified and more interoperable Algerian payments landscape taking shape over the course of 2026. #### Outlook The pace of DZ MobPay's progress toward its fifteen-participant target during 2026 is the primary indicator to track, alongside any further detail on the scope and timeline of its PAPSS cross-border settlement integration, neither of which was elaborated in further detail this cycle. **2 earlier distinct update(s)** Periodic update · new data 2026-09-22 #### Product Innovation & Market Development The Bank of Algeria published an updated compendium of authorised banking products and services, dated 14 May 2026, issued under Article 7 of Regulation No. 2020-01. The update adds a deferred-debit CIB card to the list of products that Algerian banks are authorised to offer under the CIB card scheme. This is a Tier-3-sourced, incremental but concrete product-authorisation development, expanding the card-product instrument set available within the domestic scheme rather than introducing a new payment rail or instrument category. This product update sits within the same regulatory-publication cadence as Instruction 06-2025's tiered digital-wallet regime, though the two are distinct instruments addressing different product categories — cards under the existing Regulation 2020-01 compendium mechanism, versus digital wallets under the new tiered fintech rulebook. The deferred-debit card addition suggests continued incremental modernisation of the card-product suite alongside the more structural fintech-licensing reform occurring in parallel. #### Outlook Watch for further additions to the authorised-products compendium as a recurring, lower-materiality but useful indicator of incremental product modernisation in the Algerian banking sector, distinct from the higher-materiality tiered-licensing reform tracked separately. Periodic update · new data 2026-09-14 #### Product Innovation & Market Development Algeria's digital-payments market showed substantial growth momentum this cycle: digital transactions surged 71 percent in Q1 2024, and the EDAHABIA prepaid card base more than doubled to 14.3 million by end-2024. This growth is occurring against a backdrop of a 57 percent adult unbanked rate, meaning the market development signal here reflects both genuine acceleration in digital-payments adoption and a substantial remaining addressable population that has not yet been brought into any formal payment rail, whether card-based, wallet-based, or account-based. This growth context is the backdrop against which Algeria's National Fintech Strategy 2024-2030 and the new PSP licensing regime under Instruction 06-2025 are being introduced, suggesting the regulatory changes described elsewhere this cycle are a deliberate policy response to, and enabler of, an already-accelerating underlying adoption trend rather than a purely top-down regulatory initiative disconnected from market reality. #### Outlook The item to watch is whether digital-transaction growth and EDAHABIA card-base expansion continue at a comparable pace through 2025-2026, and whether the new PSP licensing category under Instruction 06-2025 meaningfully accelerates further adoption among the remaining unbanked population, which is the National Fintech Strategy's implicit target segment. 1 further periodic run re-emitted the standing brief unchanged and is not shown. **Sources and findings (5)** 1. T3 [https://algeriatech.news/digital-payment-services-regulation-consumer-rights-algeria-2026/](https://algeriatech.news/digital-payment-services-regulation-consumer-rights-algeria-2026/) 2. T3 [https://www.lightspark.com/knowledge/algeria-instant-payments](https://www.lightspark.com/knowledge/algeria-instant-payments) retrieved 2026-07-04 3. T3 [https://grokipedia.com/page/List_of_banks_in_Algeria](https://grokipedia.com/page/List_of_banks_in_Algeria) retrieved 2026-07-04 4. T2 [https://cashmanagement.bnpparibas.com/atlas-countries/algeria](https://cashmanagement.bnpparibas.com/atlas-countries/algeria) retrieved 2026-07-04 5. T3 [https://www.magstartup.com/en/10-algerian-startups-to-watch-in-2026-beyond-the-noise/](https://www.magstartup.com/en/10-algerian-startups-to-watch-in-2026-beyond-the-noise/) retrieved 2026-07-04 ### W10 Consumer Protection & APP Fraud Probable confirmed 2026-07-04 Consumer protection rests on the 2018 E-Commerce Law and the 2009/2018-amended Consumer Protection Law; no dedicated APP-fraud reimbursement scheme exists. Standing sub-brief · as of 4 July 2026 159 words · last cycle 2026-07-04 #### Consumer Protection & APP Fraud Algeria's consumer-protection framework for electronic commerce rests on E-Commerce Law No. 05/18 (10 May 2018), which establishes legal mechanisms protecting electronic consumers throughout the contractual lifecycle, including the right to demand contract annulment for defect of consent. This operates alongside Law 09-03, as amended by Law 18-09, on consumer protection and fraud suppression more broadly. No dedicated statutory scheme for authorised-push-payment fraud reimbursement was identified this cycle; bank-fraud liability instead runs through general civil and criminal process rather than a specific payments-sector reimbursement mechanism. This is a material gap relative to PSR-style APP-fraud reimbursement regimes seen elsewhere in the WPM's jurisdictional scope. #### Outlook As the new PSP licensing regime (W1a) and expanded digital-wallet usage bring more consumer payment activity into scope, the absence of a dedicated APP-fraud reimbursement statute is likely to become more visible as a consumer-protection gap, particularly if fraud volumes rise alongside the foreign-card-acceptance opening (W8) and PAPSS corridor growth (W5). no periodic updates on record for this sub-brief ** Sources and findings (5)** 1. T3 [https://ojs.journalsdg.org/jlss/article/view/4261](https://ojs.journalsdg.org/jlss/article/view/4261) retrieved 2026-07-04 2. T3 [https://lex-localis.org/index.php/LexLocalis/article/download/2-012/2490/24874](https://lex-localis.org/index.php/LexLocalis/article/download/2-012/2490/24874) retrieved 2026-07-04 3. T2 [https://www.mpt.gov.dz/e-commerce-2/](https://www.mpt.gov.dz/e-commerce-2/) retrieved 2026-07-04 4. T3 [https://asjp.cerist.dz/en/downArticle/615/5/4/237727](https://asjp.cerist.dz/en/downArticle/615/5/4/237727) retrieved 2026-07-04 5. T3 [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/385851748_E-commerce_in_Algeria_-_Reality_and_Challenges_Law_No_18-05](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/385851748_E-commerce_in_Algeria_-_Reality_and_Challenges_Law_No_18-05) retrieved 2026-07-04 ### W11 AML/CFT & Financial Crime [Sourced from Sentinel.gi ↗](https://sentinel.gi/jurisdictions/algeria/#sec-dom-D7) Probable confirmed 2026-07-04 Algeria's AML/CFT cornerstone (Law 05-01) was strengthened via Law 25-07, expanding enforcement to virtual assets; CTRF is the FIU. Standing sub-brief · as of 4 July 2026 148 words · last cycle 2026-07-04 #### AML/CFT & Financial Crime This module's intelligence is sourced from the Sentinel.gi feed and is carried here as payments-context provenance rather than original illicit-finance analysis, which remains the province of the Financial Intelligence Monitor. Law No. 25-07 (July 2025) strengthens Algeria's cornerstone AML law (05-01, 2005), expanding enforcement to virtual assets, tightening penalties, and enhancing cooperation with FATF/MENAFATF. Bank of Algeria Regulation 24-03 (August 2024) supervises AML/CFT compliance for banks, Algérie Poste and virtual-asset providers, while the Financial Intelligence Processing Unit (CTRF), housed under the Ministry of Finance, receives suspicious-transaction reports. #### Outlook The AML/CFT tightening runs in parallel with the blanket crypto/stablecoin ban under Law 25-10 (see W2) and the new cybersecurity/CII framework (see W3), together forming a coherent hardening of the financial-crime and resilience perimeter even as market-access rules liberalise. Substantive analysis of enforcement trends and illicit-finance typologies is referred to the Financial Intelligence Monitor's Sentinel-fed coverage. no periodic updates on record for this sub-brief ** Sources and findings (8)** 1. T3 sentinel.news.bitcoin.com/algeria-enacts-sweeping-ban-on-crypto-use-exchange-and-mining/ 2. T? FIM (sentinel.gi) per-JID baseline profile — Algeria — Algeria's AML/CFT regime rests on the 2005 Anti-Money-Laundering/CFT Act and 2006 Anti-Corruption Act, with the CTRF financial intelligence unit at the Ministry of Finance and Bank of Algeria customer due-diligence regulations. FATF grey-listed Algeria in October 2024; following reforms to BO sanctions, targeted financial sanctions for TF, and NPO oversight, FATF removed Algeria from increased monitoring on 19 June 2026. 3. T1 FIM (sentinel.gi) sanctions_change_register (issue FIM-BASE-SANC-004) — Sanctions: OFSI divergence 4. T1 FIM (sentinel.gi) enforcement_action_register (issue FIM-BASE-ENF-004) — Enforcement: FATF / MENAFATF — Algeria's national AML/CFT/CPF supervisory system 5. T1 FIM (sentinel.gi) sanctions_change_register (issue FIM-BASE-SANC-003) — Sanctions: OFAC delisting 6. T1 FIM (sentinel.gi) enforcement_action_register (issue FIM-BASE-ENF-003) — Enforcement: OFAC — Long-standing Algeria-linked AQIM/GSPC figures (Djamel Akkacha/Yahia Abou el Hammam, Ahcene Cheib/Hacene Allane, Dhou El-Aich) 7. T? FIM (sentinel.gi) gaps_register_cumulative (issue FIM-BASE-GAP-003) — Gap: enforcement-absence 8. T? FIM (sentinel.gi) gaps_register_cumulative (issue FIM-BASE-GAP-004) — Gap: capacity-deficit ### W12 Correspondent Banking, Settlement & Access Probable confirmed 2026-07-04 Cross-border settlement access runs through correspondent banking maintained by state-owned banks, supplemented since August 2025 by PAPSS. Standing sub-brief · as of 4 July 2026 199 words · last cycle 2026-09-14 #### Correspondent Banking, Settlement & Access This module's analytical spine is the asymmetry between bank and non-bank access to cross-border settlement rails. Algerian public banks, including Banque Extérieure d'Algérie (BEA), maintain correspondent-banking relationships with several U.S. and European banks, and these remain the primary channel for cross-border transfers alongside SWIFT messaging. Importers of goods valued over $40,000 per year must pay via letters of credit of 60 days or less, with payment due 30 days post-shipment, exposing importers to exchange-rate risk under Algeria's FX-control regime. Since August 2025, this correspondent-SWIFT backbone has been supplemented by PAPSS for intra-African flows (see W5), giving Algeria a second settlement channel for a defined corridor set. Non-bank PSPs licensed under the new W1a regime do not have the direct correspondent-banking access that public banks retain; their cross-border reach, where it exists, runs through partnership or agency arrangements with licensed banks rather than independent correspondent relationships. #### Outlook The FX-control regime constrains corridor flexibility notwithstanding the new PAPSS settlement channel, and this tension, between liberalising payment-market access at the PSP layer and a still-tightly-controlled FX/correspondent regime at the bank layer, is likely to remain the defining structural feature of Algerian cross-border settlement for the foreseeable term. Periodic update · new data 2026-09-14 #### Correspondent Banking, Settlement & Access The analytical spine of this module for Algeria this cycle is the bank-versus-nonbank access asymmetry underlying PAPSS membership: Bank of Algeria's August 2025 accession to the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System settles African cross-border trade directly between central banks, bypassing the intermediary-currency correspondent routes that have historically structured African cross-border payment access. This is fundamentally a bank-and-central-bank-level access channel — PAPSS operates at the central-bank settlement layer, not as a retail or nonbank-PI-accessible rail, which means the correspondent-banking-access benefits of PAPSS membership accrue directly to Bank of Algeria and, by extension, to the domestic banks that route through it, rather than to the newly licensed nonbank PSP category created under Instruction 06-2025. This bifurcation is worth stating explicitly: while Instruction 06-2025 creates new nonbank market access for digital wallets and agent networks at the domestic retail level, PAPSS membership creates new settlement access at the correspondent/central-bank level, and the two developments — though occurring in the same year — operate on entirely different rails serving different transaction types and different classes of institution. #### Outlook The item to watch is whether nonbank PSPs licensed under Instruction 06-2025 gain any indirect access to PAPSS-facilitated settlement rails, whether through partnership arrangements with domestic banks or through future regulatory extension of PAPSS access, which would meaningfully narrow the current bank/nonbank access asymmetry in cross-border settlement. **Sources and findings (5)** 1. T2 [https://www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides/algeria-trade-financing](https://www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides/algeria-trade-financing) retrieved 2026-07-04 2. T2 [https://www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides/algeria-trade-financing](https://www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides/algeria-trade-financing) retrieved 2026-07-04 3. T2 [https://cashmanagement.bnpparibas.com/atlas-countries/algeria](https://cashmanagement.bnpparibas.com/atlas-countries/algeria) retrieved 2026-07-04 4. T3 [https://www.lightspark.com/knowledge/algeria-instant-payments](https://www.lightspark.com/knowledge/algeria-instant-payments) retrieved 2026-07-04 5. T3 [https://www.privacyshield.gov/ps/article?id=Algeria-Banking-Systems](https://www.privacyshield.gov/ps/article?id=Algeria-Banking-Systems) retrieved 2026-07-04 ### W13 Commercial Intelligence (M&A, Investment & Product) Probable confirmed 2026-07-04 Commercial activity is dominated by regulatory-enabled product launches rather than large disclosed M&A; VC funding remains modest, with a new domestic FCPR fund vehicle launched. Standing sub-brief · as of 23 August 2026 117 words · last cycle 2026-10-18 #### Commercial Intelligence & Fintech Algeria's fintech ecosystem remains early-stage this cycle, with Yassir — a ride-hailing platform turned regional super-app with embedded financial services across North Africa — reported as the most prominent named player, held at Low confidence from a single source. No specific transaction, funding round, or product launch tied to Yassir or another named DZ fintech entity was disclosed this cycle; this entry is a dated ecosystem-watch observation rather than a discrete commercial event. #### Outlook Watch for a named, dated commercial event (funding round, product launch, or M&A) involving Yassir or another Algeria-facing fintech entity in a subsequent cycle, which would move this domain from a dashboard-level watch item to a full commercial-intelligence entry. Periodic update · new data 2026-10-18 #### Commercial Intelligence & Fintech Djezzy Payment Services, a subsidiary of telecom operator Djezzy, received Monetary and Banking Council authorisation on 23 September 2026 to become Algeria's first telco-backed Payment Service Provider. Djezzy reported 18.1 million subscribers as of end-June 2026, giving the new PSP entity a substantial existing user base to draw on if and when it reaches commercial launch. The event is structured as a regulatory licensing action rather than a disclosed commercial transaction: no deal value, investment amount or transaction size has been publicly disclosed, and none applies in the ordinary sense, since this is an authorisation rather than an acquisition or funding round. The authorisation is preliminary and establishment-stage: regulatory review by the Monetary and Banking Council is recorded as cleared with conditions, and Djezzy Payment Services has a 12-month window to meet remaining operational requirements and apply for the final operating licence before it can offer services commercially. The event is categorised structurally as a banking-as-a-service / embedded-finance-type licensing action, reflecting a telecom operator building a regulated payment-services capability rather than partnering with an existing bank or PSP. This is described in the record as the first commercial or licensing event of its kind in Algeria's payments market — the first instance of a non-bank, telco-led entity clearing the Monetary and Banking Council's authorisation gate for payment services. It is a market-structure marker: a telecom-sector entrant now sits inside a licensing pathway previously reserved for banks and newly opened to non-bank PSPs. #### Outlook The next milestone is commercial rather than regulatory in nature from Djezzy's perspective: whether the company meets its operational conditions and files for the final licence within the 12-month window running to 23 September 2027. Until that final licence is granted, this remains a licensing event rather than a live product launch, and no commercial mobile-money service under this authorisation is yet operating. **1 earlier distinct update(s)** Periodic update · new data 2026-09-14 #### Commercial Intelligence & Fintech Named regional fintech players — Banxy, DFA, ESREF Pay, and Yassir — are reported to be operating in or adjacent to the Algerian payments market, though confidence in the precise scope, scale, and commercial terms of this activity is only uncertain this cycle. Unlike the structural regulatory developments covered elsewhere in this brief, these are discrete commercial-presence signals rather than confirmed transaction, funding, or product-launch events with disclosed detail; no amount-disclosed commercial event (such as a specific funding round or M&A transaction) was identified for Algeria this cycle. The emergence of named regional fintech activity in or adjacent to Algeria is consistent with, and plausibly a response to, the broader market-development signal recorded elsewhere this cycle — the 71 percent Q1 2024 digital-transaction surge and the new PSP licensing category under Instruction 06-2025 together create a more hospitable environment for regional fintech entrants than existed previously, though the sourcing available this cycle does not permit a confident causal claim connecting these players' presence directly to the regulatory changes. #### Outlook The item to watch is whether any of the named regional fintech players formalise their Algerian market presence through a disclosed licensing application under the new PSP category, a funding round, or a specific product launch with disclosed terms — any of which would upgrade this cycle's uncertain commercial-presence signal into a confirmed, disclosed commercial event. 1 further periodic run re-emitted the standing brief unchanged and is not shown. **Sources and findings (4)** 1. T3 [https://www.magstartup.com/en/10-algerian-startups-to-watch-in-2026-beyond-the-noise/](https://www.magstartup.com/en/10-algerian-startups-to-watch-in-2026-beyond-the-noise/) retrieved 2026-07-04 2. T3 [https://techpression.com/algeria-startup-ecosystem-2025-reforms-driving-tech-innovation-and-growth/](https://techpression.com/algeria-startup-ecosystem-2025-reforms-driving-tech-innovation-and-growth/) retrieved 2026-07-04 3. T3 [https://www.magstartup.com/en/10-algerian-startups-to-watch-in-2026-beyond-the-noise/](https://www.magstartup.com/en/10-algerian-startups-to-watch-in-2026-beyond-the-noise/) retrieved 2026-07-04 4. T3 [https://algeriatech.news/cybersecurity-startup-ecosystem-11m-fund-algeria-2026/](https://algeriatech.news/cybersecurity-startup-ecosystem-11m-fund-algeria-2026/) retrieved 2026-07-04 ** No modules match.** Filters combine as OR inside a group and AND across groups. ## Editorial metadata Provenance only. Nothing below gates publication or affects the render. Editorial metadata for Algeria| Field | Value | |---|---| | `trust.lawyer_review.status` | never_reviewed | | `trust.lawyer_review.reviewer` | no reviewer on record | | ` trust.content_source` | ai_generated | ## Provenance and declared absence **Disclosure model:** module cards load OPEN; standing positions render in full; sub-briefs and jurisdiction briefs load as a clamped teaser with an explicit “read full” control carrying the true word count; earlier updates stay collapsed behind a counted summary. No text is hidden without disclosing how much of it there is. **Sentinel-fed modules** receive no special rendering treatment. `sentinel_feed` is an attribution chip only: it does not suppress content, does not generate an absence reason code, and does not exclude the module from any count, filter, search index or export on this page. **Family taxonomy** is renderer-level presentation config, not a JID field. Colour is always duplicated in text and is never the sole carrier of meaning. **Suppressed by doctrine:** derived risk score; per-module RAG traffic light; `derived_scores` = `{"legal_accessibility": {"per_product": {"account_to_account": "regulated", "cards": "regulated", "prepaid_emoney": "licensed-emi", "stablecoin": "emerging-regime"}}}`. **Band honesty:** uncertainty bands are computed against a frozen build clock of 2026-10-21. A year-precision row is never promoted into a tighter band. **Orphan deltas:** 1 cycle_delta row(s) target non-module objects and are listed in the rail rather than attached to a card. **Envelope:** baseline resolved at `jurisdiction_json.baseline`; 14 module(s), 71 finding(s), 119 source(s) in the cumulative register. Think something on this page is wrong? [Report an error](https://payments.gi/legal/#contact).