Sierra Leone’s digital financial landscape is entering a defining moment of transformation. Over the past five years, the country has made steady progress toward establishing an inclusive, interoperable, and innovation-driven retail payments ecosystem. Under the leadership of the Bank of Sierra Leone (BSL) and through programs such as the Salone Access to Finance Project, jointly implemented by the Government of Sierra Leone, the European Union, and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), significant progress has been made in expanding digital access, strengthening payment infrastructure, and modernizing the regulatory environment. Yet, major behavioral, institutional, and infrastructural challenges remain, necessitating coordinated reform, sustained investment, and targeted innovation to fully realize the promise of digital inclusion.
Against this backdrop, UNCDF’s interventions have played a catalytic role in supporting this evolution. UNCDF works to unlock public and private finance for sustainable development in the world’s least developed countries, bringing together three core capabilities: digital finance, subnational finance and MSME finance. In Sierra Leone, UNCDF’s work on digital finance closely aligns with the national priorities outlined in the National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS) 2022–2026. UNCDF has supported efforts to embed digital payments as a key enabler of economic empowerment, agricultural transformation and job creation, with a focus on smallholder farmers, women, youth, and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). These efforts have been reinforced by strong partnerships with the BSL and financial institutions, including direct contributions to the design and implementation of the National Payment Switch (SaPS) and the development of interoperability and financial literacy frameworks.
Building on this context, the assessment not only maps infrastructure, market dynamics, and regulatory reforms, but also explicitly applies a responsible digital payments lens informed by the UN Principles for Responsible Digital Payments. The analysis is guided by a nine‑pillar framework that emphasizes safety, transparency, fair and affordable pricing, strong data and fund protection, effective recourse, and product designs that work for low‑income, rural, and other vulnerable users. This lens is used throughout the report to interpret findings and to ensure that proposed reforms strengthen both ecosystem performance and user protection.
