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Payments/NA/namqr

NAMQR

NAMQR is Namibia's national payment QR code standard, published by the Bank of Namibia on 9 May 2025 [1]. The idea: one code that any banking or e-money app can scan and pay, whether the shop banks with someone else, takes cards, or uses an e-wallet. In October 2026 it was still a standard, not a service. Its scheme rules, operating guidelines and the move of today's closed QR products onto it were being worked out during 2026 [1]. So a QR you scan in a Namibian shop today is still one provider's code.
Country Namibia (NA)
What it is The single national technical specification for QR payments, and a registered trademark [1]
Run by Bank of Namibia (BoN), drafted with the Payments Association of Namibia (PAN) and the industry [1]
Since Standard version 5.0, 9 May 2025 [2]; not yet in service
Cost Not set. Fees will come with the scheme rules; the code can carry a tip or convenience fee [2]
Typical limit None published
Reaches Designed for card, EFT, e-money and instant-payment accounts in Namibia, in Namibian dollars [2]
Code on paper? Yes, by design: a printed static code at the counter, or a dynamic code on the till or the bill. None issued yet

How NAMQR came to Namibia

  • 25 October 2023: the guidelines. Governor Johannes !Gawaxab signed the Guidelines on the Standardisation of Quick Response Codes in the National Payment System. BoN wanted the industry to write one open, interoperable standard and said it would approve it. It asked providers using proprietary QR codes to migrate by 30 June 2024, and said it would mandate a standard itself if the industry didn't align (by July 2024 in one paragraph, October 2024 in another) [3]. BoN later dated the guidelines' publication to 1 November 2023 [1].
  • January–May 2025: drafting. Industry stakeholders worked with PAN and BoN from January 2025 to "co-craft and finalise" the standard. They drew on BoN's guidelines, the EMVCo QR standards and the Instant Payment Programme's QR specification. NAMQR was "finalised and published on 9 May 2025" [1]. That was nearly a year after the 2023 migration date.
  • 11 December 2025: the next phase. BoN's guidance note said the standard is only "the foundational layer". Still to come: scheme rules (use cases, user journeys, test cases, participant roles, a "translator" between payment systems), operating guidelines (merchant onboarding, settlement, disputes, customer redress), and a phased go-to-market plan to move existing QR solutions over. BoN, PAN and the industry would consult on these during 2026 [1].
  • 27 March 2026: NPS Vision 2030. BoN and PAN launched the National Payment System Vision and Strategy 2026–2030, which lists the NAMQR standard among the achievements of the previous plan [4]. It names "Operationalisation of NAMQR Code Standards" as a programme for the next five years [5].
  • June 2026: the instant-payment rail goes live. Instant Payments Namibia (IPN), a BoN subsidiary, finished a live pilot of the Instant Payment Solution with Bank Windhoek, Nampost and Letshego Bank Namibia, and started a phased rollout with government grant payments first [6]. BoN's deputy governor said in July that it "went live in mid-June" [7]. Many NAMQR flows assume this rail; the IPN releases don't mention QR codes.
  • July 2026: still to operationalise. PAN's 2025 annual report said the NamQR standard had been finalised. At its launch, Deputy Governor Leonie Dunn listed "operationalising NamQR" among the priorities under NPS Vision 2030 [8].

We found no published scheme rules, go-live date, participating bank list or merchant count for NAMQR as of 19 October 2026.

How to use it

NAMQR is not live, so no bank yet publishes NAMQR instructions. The standard describes how paying with it is meant to work [2]:

  1. At a small shop (static code): open your bank's app and scan the code at the counter. The app shows the shop's name; you type the amount and approve with your M-PIN.
  2. At a till (dynamic code): the till or the printed bill shows a code that already holds the amount. Scan it, check the pre-filled details, and tap pay. Shop and customer both get a confirmation.
  3. Without a smartphone (USSD): a code is printed with a Token Vault number in text below it. You type that number into your bank's USSD menu, which fetches the payment details.
  4. Showing your own code (payer-presented): your app displays a NAMQR, and the shop or the other person scans it to request the payment.

Every payment is authenticated with two factors on your own app [2], as BoN's guidelines require for every QR payment [3]. The scanning app can be your bank's own app or a third-party one; either way the payment comes from your bank, e-money or card account [2]. The spec's own examples also include withdrawing cash by scanning a code on an ATM screen, agent cash-out, paying a TV subscription from a code on screen, and recurring payments set up from a mandate code [2].

Limits and fees

There are none to report yet. Limits and fees belong in the scheme rules and operating guidelines that BoN said it would consult on during 2026 [1]. The standard only fixes how amounts are written [2]:

  • the amount in a code is the final debit amount in Namibian dollars, with up to 2 decimals;
  • a code can set a minimum amount, after which you can type a higher one;
  • a code can ask for a tip, or add a fixed or percentage convenience fee that the shop charges.

Limits change; once NAMQR goes live, check your bank's current terms.

Paying shops and businesses

The standard expects acquiring banks to issue merchant codes: a one-person shop prints a static code from its bank without any till integration, while a larger shop's point-of-sale system makes a dynamic code per sale [2]. BoN says the point is to end "proprietary QR Codes that are fragmented and closed-loop" [1], and the standard aims to let rural and informal vendors accept digital payments [2].

Until then, Namibian shops take QR through individual providers, such as a PayToday business QR, which customers with the PayToday app scan to pay the business [12]. Merchant onboarding rules for NAMQR are part of the operating guidelines still to be written [1].

Paying across borders

Nothing is live. The standard includes an "international" purpose code, and one of its examples is a Namibian paying a shop abroad by scanning its code, with the app showing the foreign currency, the exchange rate and the amount in Namibian dollars [2]. NPS Vision 2030 talks about cross-border payment linkages in general [5]. We found no announced link between NAMQR and any foreign QR scheme.

How the NAMQR code works

A NAMQR is a payment payload in an ordinary QR code. It uses the same tag-length-value layout as EMVCo merchant-presented QR: tag 00 first, a CRC in tag 63 last [2]. It adds what Namibia wanted on top [2]:

  • Payer-presented codes (point of initiation 13 and 14), not only the shop's code.
  • Templates for Namibian rails: card networks, the existing EFT streams (for example near-real-time credit) and the Instant Payment Programme, whose aliases look like name@participant, in the style of India's UPI QR.
  • An alias, not an account number. The code names the payee by a mobile number or another identifier, and the payee's bank resolves it, so no bank account details are in the code.
  • A Token Vault identifier (tag 65), mandatory in static and dynamic codes. The payer's bank checks the scanned details against the vault before paying.

The full tag table is on the NAMQR standard page. Barcoder has no NAMQR encoder yet.

So what is a code on a Namibian bill or counter in October 2026? It is not NAMQR. It is a provider's own code, such as a PayToday business QR, that its own app reads. Invoices are paid by bank transfer over NamPay to an account number.

Safety: the fake QR sticker

The standard itself names the risk: a fraudster sticks their own QR code over a legitimate one in a shop, restaurant or advert, or sends a code by email or social media, so that a scan leads to a fake payment page or the wrong payee [2]. Its defences are the CRC, the Token Vault check and, for instant payments in apps, signed codes: an app must warn you when a code is unsigned, and continue only after you confirm [2].

  • Read the name before you pay. After a scan, your app shows who you are paying. If it isn't the shop in front of you, stop.
  • Take an unsigned-code warning seriously once NAMQR is live, and don't pay a code that came in a message from a stranger.
  • Scan in your bank's app, not with the phone camera into a web link. A payment code opens a pay screen in the app.

NAMQR and the alternatives in Namibia

Way to pay Best for Notes
NAMQR (Planned) any app paying any shop or person Standard only, October 2026; no live acceptance found
PayToday QR Shops, fuel and parking Live; a closed code read by the PayToday app (PayToday QR)
EasyWallet / eWallet Sending cash to a phone number Cardless cash-out at an ATM (EasyWallet)
NamPay EFT Invoices, rent, larger amounts Account to account; no code (NamPay)
Card Most shops Debit and credit cards at a POS terminal, one of the streams NAMQR is meant to bridge [2]
Instant Payment Solution Grant payments first, other uses later Live since June 2026; person-to-person and wallet interoperability phased in over 18 months from February 2026 [9] [10]

E-money providers were told to become interoperable through the instant payment switch by 26 February 2026 [11], which is the rail many NAMQR flows are written for.

Sources

  1. Bank of Namibia, "Guidance Note on the Operationalisation of NAMQR Code Standards in the National Payment System", 11 Dec 2025. https://www.bon.com.na/getattachment/a6014f2c-64f9-4d11-96b4-d50450048455/.aspx
  2. Bank of Namibia, "NAMQR Code Standards", version 5.0, 9 May 2025 (last updated 11 Apr 2025). https://www.bon.com.na/getattachment/Bank/National-Payment-System/Legal-Framework/Standards/NAMQR-CODE-STANDARDS-V5-0.pdf.aspx?lang=en-ZA
  3. Bank of Namibia, "Guidelines on the Standardisation of Quick Response Codes in the National Payment System", 25 Oct 2023. https://www.bon.com.na/getattachment/6c034e1b-abc9-493a-b5ec-b159b186c84e/.aspx
  4. Bank of Namibia, "Bank of Namibia and the Payments Association of Namibia launch the National Payment System Vision 2030", 27 Mar 2026. https://www.bon.com.na/CMSTemplates/Bon/Files/bon.com.na/0e/0e0a297f-a167-49c7-adef-464cb55d4fca.pdf
  5. Bank of Namibia, "National Payment System Vision & Strategy 2030: Inclusive Payments, Shared Prosperity: Charting the Next Era", Mar 2026. https://www.bon.com.na/getattachment/178089f9-403e-4796-907a-a97c20f39e9c/.aspx
  6. Instant Payments Namibia, "Namibia's Instant Payment Solution successfully completes pilot testing ahead of phased go-live", 12 Jun 2026. https://www.bon.com.na/CMSTemplates/Bon/Files/bon.com.na/0a/0a4ff0f1-e587-4598-8f5a-65ccfaa51b69.pdf
  7. The Namibian, "Namibia joins global fast-payment league as PAN marks 20 years", 29 Jul 2026. https://www.namibian.com.na/namibia-joins-global-fast-payment-league-as-pan-marks-20-years/
  8. Windhoek Express (we.com.na), "Namibia moves closer to instant payments", 30 Jul 2026. https://www.we.com.na/mw-main/namibia-moves-closer-to-instant-payments-NMH014446-3015-17893
  9. Instant Payments Namibia, "Instant Payments Namibia welcomes Minister's support for national payment transformation during her budget speech", 27 Feb 2026. https://www.bon.com.na/CMSTemplates/Bon/Files/bon.com.na/9b/9bf624d8-b94b-4a30-a575-d8f601e5ec0f.pdf
  10. TechCabal, "Bank of Namibia sets June 2026 rollout for instant payment system", 31 Mar 2026. https://techcabal.com/2026/03/31/bank-of-namibia-sets-june-2026-rollout-for-instant-payment-system/
  11. Bank of Namibia, "Directive on E-money Interoperability through the Implementation of the Instant Payment Switch in the National Payment System (PSDIR-11)", 16 Jun 2025. https://www.bon.com.na/getattachment/57989e72-2303-40db-9617-01d97d88abbf/.aspx
  12. PayToday Help Center, "Business QR Code", 26 Feb 2025 (updated 11 Jun 2025). https://site.paytoday.com.na/help-center/business-qr-code/

Researched 19 October 2026. Limits and bank offerings change; the banks' own pages are authoritative.

source · content/payments/NA/namqr/index.md