Payment System Interoperability and Retail Financial Infrastructure in Mauritius

Programme Overview

Modern retail payment infrastructures form the foundation of accessible, resilient, and inclusive financial ecosystems. This four-day executive course in Mauritius provides public officials and technical practitioners with the specialist competencies required to design, operate, and regulate interoperable national retail payment systems. Participants analyse the institutional arrangements, clearing mechanisms, and settlement procedures that underpin real-time transaction processing, linking traditional banking networks, microfinance institutions, non-bank electronic money issuers, and postal networks across domestic markets.

The curriculum addresses the architectural requirements of national switches, fast payment systems, and cross-provider mobile money interoperability. Delegates investigate international technical standards, particularly ISO 20022 and open application programming interfaces (APIs), alongside operational risk management principles established by the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI). Practical sessions unpack the economic dynamics of digital acceptance networks, evaluating transaction cost recovery, interchange models, and the regulatory implementation of merchant discount rate caps.

Through comparative legal analysis and live operational case studies, participants learn to establish sound oversight regimes that safeguard financial stability without suppressing private-sector digital innovation. The training guides delegates through the governance frameworks required for multi-stakeholder payment schemes, addressing liquidity management, settlement finality, anti-money laundering controls, and consumer protection. Designed specifically for public authorities, the programme equips practitioners to implement reforms that accelerate the uptake of regulated digital transactions.

The rapid expansion of non-bank financial service providers across emerging economies necessitates an immediate transition from closed-loop services to fully interconnected retail financial ecosystems. This programme directly reinforces national payments modernising and digital transaction acceleration under the Comoros Financial Inclusion Project (US$20m), equipping policymakers to overcome market fragmentation, eliminate proprietary agent lock-in, and expand access to formal digital payments through modern financial architecture.

Delivered by Risalat Consultants International in Mauritius, it combines expert-led sessions, real cases and group work, so that participants can apply what they learn in their own institution.

The Programme Strengthens Institutional Capability

• Assessment of retail payment landscape maturity and market fragmentation drivers
• Technical switch topologies: centralised routing versus distributed bilateral models
• Settlement models: Deferred Net Settlement (DNS) versus real-time gross settlement integration
• Applying CPMI-IOSCO Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures to retail switches
• Establishing technical specifications for interoperable mobile money transfers
• Data messaging architectures: implementing ISO 20022 standards in domestic retail payments
• Open banking principles and secure API standards for non-bank financial institutions
• Fast Payment Systems (FPS): addressing 24/7/365 liquidity management and collateralisation
• Infrastructure planning and prioritisation
• Project appraisal and business cases
• Financing options and public-private partnerships
• Procurement and contracting for works

It is designed for national payment systems directors from central banks and monetary authorities, fintech policy specialists and digital economy strategists, financial inclusion project coordinators managing multilateral development portfolios and others who want practical, current skills in infrastructure, urban development and partnerships.

The Growing Importance of Payment System Interoperability and Retail Financial Infrastructure in Mauritius

Infrastructure and urban services shape growth, health and opportunity. Projects are large, complex and long-lived, and weaknesses in planning, financing or delivery are costly to fix later.

Governments increasingly combine public investment, partnerships with the private sector and new technologies. Teams who can plan, appraise, procure and manage these investments deliver better assets and services.

Organisations increasingly require professionals capable of:

• Plan and prioritise infrastructure investments
• Appraise projects and prepare business cases
• Choose financing and delivery models
• Supervise works for time, cost and quality
• Manage assets over their life

Strong infrastructure, urban development and partnerships systems help organisations:

• Select the right investments
• Deliver projects on time and on budget
• Attract financing and partners
• Keep assets working for longer

This Payment System Interoperability and Retail Financial Infrastructure in Mauritius programme brings these elements together in a practical format, so that participants understand not only what good practice looks like but also how to introduce it in their own setting, with the people and resources they have.

Who Should Attend This Payment System Interoperability and Retail Financial Infrastructure in Mauritius Training?

This programme is designed for:

• National payment systems directors from central banks and monetary authorities
• Fintech policy specialists and digital economy strategists
• Financial inclusion project coordinators managing multilateral development portfolios
• Retail clearing house and national switch operational managers
• Central bank banking supervision and digital financial services regulators
• Telecommunications regulators overseeing mobile money platforms
• Treasury and public debt officers implementing government-to-person (G2P) payments
• Senior legal advisers responsible for electronic money and payments legislation
• Donor-funded project implementation unit (PIU) payment infrastructure specialists
• Infrastructure and urban planners
• Engineers and technical managers
• Project and programme managers

The programme suits experienced professionals as well as those moving into new responsibilities. Groups that mix institutions and countries are encouraged, because participants learn a great deal from each other’s experience.

Payment System Interoperability and Retail Financial Infrastructure in Mauritius Training Objectives

Upon successful completion of this Payment System Interoperability and Retail Financial Infrastructure in Mauritius Training, participants will be able to:

• Evaluate national retail payment switch architectures and clearing models against international benchmarks
• Formulate interoperability frameworks for account-to-account and mobile money merchant payment schemes
• Apply CPMI-IOSCO Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures to retail payment systems
• Draft enforceable regulatory directives governing electronic settlement, finality, and open API standards
• Design fair access regimes and tiered licensing for non-bank payment service providers
• Model merchant discount rate caps and multilateral interchange fees to support merchant acceptance
• Structure risk mitigation protocols for operational resilience, liquidity shortages, and systemic retail failure
• Explain how infrastructure is planned and prioritised
• Appraise projects and prepare a business case
• Compare financing and delivery models, including partnerships

Each objective is practised during the programme through exercises, cases or group work, so that participants leave able to do it, not only to describe it.

Programme Contents and Structure

The programme runs over 4 days. Each day combines expert input, practical work and a closing workshop or case study:

• First Day: National Retail Payment Architecture and Core Infrastructure Design
• Second Day: Open Standards, APIs, and Fast Payment System Implementation
• Third Day: Payment Economics, Interchange, and Merchant Acceptance Policy
• Fourth Day: Regulatory Governance, Oversight, and Operational Resilience

Full day-by-day contents

First Day | National Retail Payment Architecture and Core Infrastructure Design

• Assessment of retail payment landscape maturity and market fragmentation drivers
• Technical switch topologies: centralised routing versus distributed bilateral models
• Settlement models: Deferred Net Settlement (DNS) versus real-time gross settlement integration
• Applying CPMI-IOSCO Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures to retail switches
• Establishing technical specifications for interoperable mobile money transfers

Workshop: National Retail Payment Architecture and Core Infrastructure Design: Applying It to Your Institution

Working in small groups, participants apply the day's methods to examples from their own institutions and agree practical next steps.

Second Day | Open Standards, APIs, and Fast Payment System Implementation

• Data messaging architectures: implementing ISO 20022 standards in domestic retail payments
• Open banking principles and secure API standards for non-bank financial institutions
• Fast Payment Systems (FPS): addressing 24/7/365 liquidity management and collateralisation
• Proxy addressing systems and centralised identity databases for peer-to-peer transfers
• Cross-network QR code interoperability and merchant acceptance interface design

Workshop: Open Standards, APIs, and Fast Payment System Implementation: Applying It to Your Institution

Working in small groups, participants apply the day's methods to examples from their own institutions and agree practical next steps.

Third Day | Payment Economics, Interchange, and Merchant Acceptance Policy

• Economics of payment networks: cost recovery, volume scaling, and scheme rules
• Interchange fee mechanics and policy approaches to merchant discount rate (MDR) caps
• Mitigating closed-loop dominance and dismantling exclusive agent network contracts
• Government-to-person (G2P) and person-to-government (P2G) digitisation strategies
• Structuring multi-stakeholder governance models for national switch ownership and management

Case Study: Payment Economics, Interchange, and Merchant Acceptance Policy in Practice

Participants analyse a realistic case, compare the choices made with good practice and draw lessons they can use in their own setting.

Fourth Day | Regulatory Governance, Oversight, and Operational Resilience

• Drafting clear regulations on electronic payment settlement finality and irrevocable orders
• Tiered licensing, capital adequacy, and safeguarding regimes for electronic money issuers
• Oversight mechanisms, cybersecurity frameworks, and operational continuity requirements
• Consumer protection mandates, dispute resolution mechanisms, and fraud mitigation
• Drafting action plans for payment system reform aligned with development project targets

Capstone Exercise: Payment System Interoperability and Retail Financial Infrastructure in Mauritius Action Plan for Your Institution

Participants bring the week together in an action plan for their own institution, with priorities, owners and first steps, and present it for feedback from peers and facilitators.

Payment System Interoperability and Retail Financial Infrastructure in Mauritius Training Methodology

The training employs an applied institutional development methodology combining comparative policy lectures, technical system walkthroughs, and guided legal drafting sessions. Participants analyse operational retail payment platforms and evaluate sample switch architectures from developing economies. Structured working groups review regulatory instruments, calculate payment economics using balance-sheet scenarios, and draft national retail payment roadmaps tailored to the supervisory requirements of their home jurisdictions.

The programme combines:

• Expert-led sessions on current practice
• Regional and international case studies
• Group work and practical exercises
• Simulations and role plays where relevant
• Discussion of participants' own challenges
• Peer learning across institutions and countries
• Practical tools and templates to take back to work
• Daily reflection and action planning

Before the programme, a short pre-assessment helps the facilitators understand each participant’s role and priorities, so that examples and exercises can be adjusted to the group. Each day ends with a short reflection in which participants note what they will apply at work.

Expected Outcomes

Upon completion of this Payment System Interoperability and Retail Financial Infrastructure in Mauritius Training, participants will be able to:

• Detailed technical specifications for deploying or upgrading an interoperable national switch
• Draft regulations on electronic payment settlement finality and revocability limits
• Comprehensive policy directive defining open API standards and interoperability requirements
• Economic assessment model for setting balanced merchant discount rates and interchange fees
• Tiered risk-based supervisory framework for licensing non-bank retail payment providers
• Institutional roadmap for integrating public sector disbursement programmes into retail payment networks
• Plan and prioritise infrastructure investments
• Appraise projects and prepare business cases

Participants leave with a personal action plan and practical tools they can use in their institution from the first week back. Institutions that send several participants can use the programme to agree shared methods and templates across teams, which makes improvements easier to sustain.

Institutional Application of Payment System Interoperability and Retail Financial Infrastructure in Mauritius Training

This programme supports organisations in strengthening:

• Investment planning
• Project appraisal
• Partnership management
• Works supervision
• Asset management

Participants return with practical tools to improve:

• Business cases
• Risk allocation
• Contract management
• Maintenance planning
• Service monitoring

The programme is built so that learning moves from the classroom into the institution. Participants work on their own processes and documents where possible, and leave with an action plan that their managers can review and support.

Regional Relevance & Application

Europe

European institutions apply infrastructure, urban development and partnerships within detailed regulatory frameworks and reform agendas. Participants from Europe can compare their practice with colleagues from other regions and test how established methods work under different conditions.

Africa

Across Africa, ministries, agencies and project teams working in infrastructure, urban development and partnerships increasingly operate alongside donor-financed programmes that expect clear systems and evidence. The programme helps participants adapt good practice to the institutions and resources they work with.

Middle East

In the Middle East, national development strategies and diversification plans place growing demands on infrastructure, urban development and partnerships. Participants explore how to build the capability these plans need inside public bodies and companies.

Asia

Institutions across Asia combine rapid growth with ambitious modernisation programmes. Participants from Asia can share their experience of scaling systems quickly and learn from approaches used elsewhere.

Pacific

Small island and Pacific states face particular constraints of size, distance and capacity. The programme highlights practical, proportionate approaches to infrastructure, urban development and partnerships that suit smaller institutions.

Holding the programme in Mauritius brings participants together away from their daily pressures, so they can compare how infrastructure, urban development and partnerships is handled in different settings. The same programme can also be delivered in-house for one institution, in its own country or online, with cases taken from its current work.

Host Country Profile – Mauritius

Risalat Consultants International runs open-enrolment training programmes in Mauritius, Mauritius for officials, project teams and professionals from across the region. Dates, fees and what each programme covers are listed above, and any programme can also be delivered in-house for your institution.

Studying away from their own country gives participants time to focus, a fresh view of their own institution and the chance to build a network with colleagues from other countries.

Payment System Interoperability and Retail Financial Infrastructure in Mauritius Training Deliverables

Participants receive support before, during and after the programme, so that preparation, learning and follow-up form one continuous experience.

Before the Programme

• Participant Pre-Assessment
• Payment System Interoperability and Retail Financial Infrastructure in Mauritius Readiness Assessment
• Payment System Interoperability and Retail Financial Infrastructure in Mauritius Resource Pack
• Preparatory Reading Materials
• Complimentary Visa Support & Advisory

During the Programme

• Airport Pickup & Welcome Assistance
• Accommodation with Breakfast
• Welcome Networking Dinner
• Risalat Training Kit (Bag, Bottle, Mug, T-Shirt, Cap, Passport Cover, Pens, Notebook, Magnet & Keychain)
• Comprehensive Payment System Interoperability and Retail Financial Infrastructure in Mauritius Training Manual
• Project Appraisal Template
• PPP Risk Allocation Matrix
• Works Supervision Checklist
• Asset Management Plan Template
• Practical Workshops & Simulations
• Group Discussions & Peer Learning
• Daily Lunch and Refreshments
• Full Access to Training Venue Facilities
• Mini Pad / Tablet with Digital Learning Materials
• Field Visit (where applicable)
• Entertaining City Tour

After the Programme

• Certificate of Completion
• Risalat Programme Participation Recognition Award
• Post-Training Reference Materials
• Business Case Review Checklist
• Maintenance Planning Template
• Post-Training Support & Follow-Up Guidance
• Programme Report

Institutions can also request a tailored in-house version of this programme, delivered at their premises or online. Request a proposal.

Common Challenges in Payment System Interoperability and Retail Financial Infrastructure in Mauritius, And How This Training Helps

How can institutions plan and prioritise infrastructure investments?

The programme addresses this directly on the first day (National Retail Payment Architecture and Core Infrastructure Design), where participants practise the methods involved and adapt them to their own institution, then build it into their action plan.

How can institutions appraise projects and prepare business cases?

The programme addresses this directly on the second day (Open Standards, APIs, and Fast Payment System Implementation), where participants practise the methods involved and adapt them to their own institution, then build it into their action plan.

How can institutions choose financing and delivery models?

The programme addresses this directly on the third day (Payment Economics, Interchange, and Merchant Acceptance Policy), where participants practise the methods involved and adapt them to their own institution, then build it into their action plan.

How can institutions supervise works for time, cost and quality?

The programme addresses this directly on the fourth day (Regulatory Governance, Oversight, and Operational Resilience), where participants practise the methods involved and adapt them to their own institution, then build it into their action plan.

How can institutions manage assets over their life?

The programme addresses this directly on the first day (National Retail Payment Architecture and Core Infrastructure Design), where participants practise the methods involved and adapt them to their own institution, then build it into their action plan.

Frequently Asked Questions

When and where does the Payment System Interoperability and Retail Financial Infrastructure in Mauritius programme take place?

It runs from 20 Sep 2027 to 23 Sep 2027, in Mauritius. The registration deadline is shown at the top of this page.

Who should attend?

The programme is designed for national payment systems directors from central banks and monetary authorities, fintech policy specialists and digital economy strategists, financial inclusion project coordinators managing multilateral development portfolios, retail clearing house and national switch operational managers, and others who want practical skills in infrastructure, urban development and partnerships.

Will I receive a certificate?

Yes. Participants who complete the programme receive a Certificate of Completion from Risalat Consultants International.

Can this programme be delivered for our institution only?

Yes. We can deliver a tailored in-house version at your premises, in another city or online, built around your own cases. Use the proposal request on this page.

Do I need prior experience in infrastructure, urban development and partnerships?

No specialist background is required beyond experience in a related role. A short pre-assessment helps the facilitators adapt the sessions to the group.

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