How do people in Seychelles pay online?
Banks are at the centre. IMF Financial Access Survey data show 1,841 deposit accounts at commercial banks per 1,000 adults in 2024, meaning many adults hold more than one account. World Bank figures from the ITU put internet use at 87.8% of the population that year.
Cards are the obvious route online for this banked population. Banks issue Visa and Mastercard debit and credit cards, and Google lists Seychelles for Google Pay in websites and apps. The Fintech Times reports that banks are investing in internet banking, mobile apps, contactless payments and electronic transfers, with reliable acceptance for tourism a priority.
Cheques are being retired. The Central Bank of Seychelles (CBS) announced that commercial banks stopped accepting personal cheques on 1 May 2025, and that banks and the Seychelles Credit Union would stop issuing business cheque books from 1 January 2026. Cabinet approved the change on 11 September 2024 as part of the National Payment System Modernisation Plan, which pushes payments towards electronic channels.
E-money is newer and smaller. Airtel Seychelles launched a mobile money transfer service in 2015 under a CBS licence, the first e-money in the local system. The National Payment System E-Money Regulations of 2022 opened the way for Nebula Fintech, which launched on 30 January 2024.
What rules shape online payments in Seychelles?
Non-residents can owe VAT. The Seychelles Revenue Commission (SRC) says a supply is taxable when it is made available, enjoyed or performed in Seychelles. A non-resident supplying customers who are not VAT-registered must register and charge VAT once annual turnover reaches the SR 2 million threshold, and may register voluntarily below it. Without a fixed place of business, it must appoint a VAT representative and provide security such as a bond or deposit. When the customer is VAT-registered, the customer withholds 15% of the payment and accounts for it under reverse charge.
Customer data has a modern law. The Data Protection Act, 2023 (Act 24 of 2023) came into force on 22 December 2023, with the Information Commission Seychelles as regulator. Personal data can leave Seychelles where the transfer keeps an adequate level of protection or appropriate safeguards are in place.
Payment infrastructure is being modernised. The CBS Strategic Plan for 2024 to 2028 names digital payments and financial innovation as priorities, and the IMF notes plans for a real-time gross settlement system and a central securities depository.
How would Omno route payments in Seychelles?
A merchant would connect once and set routing rules per method, currency and customer group. In Seychelles:
- Card pay-ins can be routed by BIN, so cards from Seychelles banks and cards from visitors’ home countries can go to different providers, with cascading to the next provider in the rule if one is unavailable or rejects the request.
- Google Pay would run in the hosted checkout on top of the same card routes.
- Currency rules could keep SCR prices for local customers and send other currencies to providers that settle them.
Webhooks would report the final status of each payment, and the routing-decision log would show which provider handled it and why.
What should merchants plan for?
Plan for a card-first checkout. Seychelles shoppers are banked and online, and cheques are no longer an option.
Plan for two kinds of card. Local cardholders and tourists paying with foreign cards may need different routes and currencies.
Plan for VAT if you sell services there. Check whether your turnover with unregistered Seychelles customers reaches SR 2 million, and line up a VAT representative if you have no local presence.
Plan for data transfers. Document the safeguards used when Seychelles customers’ data is processed abroad.