Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Karachi, Pakistan, Paysys Labs works with central banks, payment system operators and financial institutions to develop and implement inclusive, interoperable payment infrastructure. With a presence in Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates, the United States and Australia, the company contributes to the Mojaloop community as a System Implementer, Community Member and Contributor.
Its work spans payment system advisory, technical implementation, systems integration and fraud management. Paysys Labs has also created a self-service Mojaloop demo that allows users to independently experience an end-to-end instant payment flow — from initiating a transaction to seeing how it moves through an interoperable payment system.
We spoke with the Paysys Labs team about its work with Mojaloop, the practical considerations behind implementing an instant payment system (IPS), and what comes next for the company.
Paysys Labs has been part of the Mojaloop community for a number of years. What has that journey looked like, and what keeps you committed?
Our journey with Mojaloop reflects a shared commitment to inclusive digital payment ecosystems. We recognized its potential to connect institutions with different technologies, business models and levels of digital maturity through common payment infrastructure.
Our involvement builds on experience in IPS, national payment infrastructure and central bank advisory. We have worked with the State Bank of Pakistan, central banking institutions in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, EthSwitch in Ethiopia, PesaLink in Kenya, and payment infrastructure initiatives in Rwanda.
We have also supported the World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) in implementing Mojaloop-based payment infrastructure for cooperative financial institutions in the Philippines and Indonesia. This work demonstrated how open source technology can connect institutions that might otherwise face significant technical and financial barriers to interoperability.
Through our OpenConnect financial middleware platform and technical contributions to Tazama, we also support the integration and fraud management capabilities that complement Mojaloop.
What keeps us committed is the opportunity to build inclusive financial infrastructure that enables more accessible financial services. Contributing to Mojaloop is a natural extension of our philosophy: To Innovate and Serve.
You recently launched a self-service Mojaloop demo that lets anyone experience an end-to-end instant payment flow. Tell us about it.
The idea emerged from work with central banks, payment switch operators and financial institutions, where we saw a need to demonstrate how a complete interoperable instant payment ecosystem works in practice. While presentations, diagrams and technical specifications explain the concept, they cannot fully convey how its components interact.
The self-service demo lets users explore an illustrative national instant payment ecosystem. They can interact with financial institutions, initiate transactions, observe how payments move through the Mojaloop hub, and see the processes behind payment routing, transaction confirmation and participant connectivity. It also provides visibility into operational capabilities such as hub administration, participant management and fraud monitoring through Tazama.
The demo helps central banks, payment system operators and other stakeholders understand how Mojaloop works in practice, connecting its technical architecture with the operational requirements of implementing and modernizing an interoperable payment systems.
What does a Mojaloop implementation involve that people outside the ecosystem might not appreciate?
A common misconception is that implementing Mojaloop is primarily a software deployment exercise. In reality, establishing an interoperable payment ecosystem involves strategy, regulatory alignment, scheme governance, financial infrastructure design, systems integration and operational readiness.
Before deployment, important questions must be addressed: Who will operate the scheme? How will institutions participate? What settlement and liquidity arrangements will apply? How will disputes be resolved? What fraud controls are required? And how will the scheme remain financially sustainable?
Technical integration brings its own challenges. Banks, mobile money operators, fintechs and other digital financial service providers (DFSPs) may use different core systems, messaging standards, security architectures and operational processes. They need to connect through a standardized, secure integration framework.
At Paysys Labs, our OpenConnect platform supports integration across ISO 8583, ISO 20022, REST APIs and other financial messaging formats, including connectivity with Mojaloop’s interoperability interfaces.
Our experience with WOCCU reinforced the importance of participant readiness, testing, certification and local capacity, as well as the ongoing operational capabilities — from monitoring and settlement to fraud detection and regulatory reporting — needed to sustain a complete payment ecosystem.
Success is measured by an ecosystem’s ability to operate reliably, expand participation and deliver long-term value — not simply by whether a switch goes live.
What is one thing you wish more Adopters and DFSPs understood before starting an implementation?
Successful implementation begins well before the technology is deployed. Institutional preparedness and ecosystem alignment are essential.
For adopters, this means identifying priority use cases, defining governance and participation rules, establishing settlement and liquidity arrangements, and creating a commercially sustainable operating model.
DFSPs need to assess their existing systems, understand technical integration requirements, establish internal ownership and prepare their operational teams for participation.
There is no universal implementation model that can be replicated in every market. Each country has its own financial ecosystem, regulatory environment, institutional capabilities and financial inclusion priorities. The implementation approach must reflect those conditions.
Knowledge transfer and local capacity building should also be central to every program. Scheme operators and participating institutions need the technical and operational capabilities to manage and expand their infrastructure independently, rather than depending indefinitely on an external technology partner.
Our advice is to invest in assessment, planning, stakeholder engagement and governance before implementation begins. Technology enables interoperability, but preparation, collaboration and strong institutional ownership make it sustainable.
What’s next for Paysys Labs?
Paysys Labs will continue combining payment system advisory, technology development and implementation to support secure, inclusive and interoperable payment infrastructure. Our priorities include helping central banks and payment operators with IPS strategy, scheme governance, regulatory frameworks and operational readiness; enhancing OpenConnect for participant integration and new payment use cases; and supporting real-time fraud intelligence through Tazama.
We also see opportunities to expand beyond person-to-person transfers into merchant and QR payments, government disbursements, bill payments, payment initiation and cross-border interoperability. Our continued community contributions support broader understanding and adoption of open source payment infrastructure.
Ultimately, our goal is not simply to deploy technology. It is to help build payment infrastructure that countries can own, institutions can trust and communities can benefit from for years to come.
