08-19-2026 
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The small island country of Fiji has begun modernizing its financial services and doubling down on promoting inclusion, with the Bank of South Pacific (BSP) spearheading the initiative by launching the eDollar app, an electronic wallet that allows Fijians to pay and transfer money using a QR code.
E-wallets have been around in Fiji since 2010, but digital payments weren’t as popular then as cash remains the primary payment method for most transactions. Reserve Bank of Fiji (RBF) Governor Ariff Ali said digital payments only gained traction at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and have been rising since then, as people find them more efficient than transacting in physical cash.
In 2025 alone, the RBF recorded 57 million mobile money transactions worth $2.9 billion, while QR payments saw a 700% jump in value over the past five years, FBC News reported.
Although e-wallets and QR payments have existed for over a decade, this is the first time a private bank in the country has launched its own interoperable payment solution that aligns with the government’s digital transformation agenda.
BSP Chief Information Officer Omid Saberi said providing BSP customers greater control over their finances at a reduced cost is the reason that prompted the institution to launch the eDollar, explaining that with the app, users will no longer have to visit the branch, queue, or contact its customer service hotline for transactions related to sending or receiving money and merchant payments.
BSP’s eDollar has earned praises from the central bank, with Governor Ali rallying other financial institutions to follow suit.
“The BSP Bank’s eWallet incorporates Fiji’s national QR standard, making it interoperable with other participating payment service providers. This is a major milestone because interoperability lies at the heart of an efficient payment ecosystem. It enables customers to make payments seamlessly, regardless of the institution or payment application they use, while giving merchants confidence that they can accept payments with multiple providers through a single QR code,” he said.
Currently, eDollar is only available to BSP account holders via the Google Play Store and the App Store. Fijians who wish to create an e-wallet account must first open a BSP account by visiting their branch.
eDollar users can create up to five e-wallets in the app and tailor them to their financial needs and goals.
Decades-old legislation’s race to catch up with cybercrime
As Fiji gradually transitions from traditional payment systems, questions arise as to whether its 20-year-old legislation against money laundering and terrorism financing will need to be amended as cybercrimes become more sophisticated, along with the development of more advanced technologies.
The question was raised by Standing Committee Deputy Chair Premila Kumar to RBF Governor Ali at the Standing Committee on Economic Affairs earlier this month.
Responding to the query, Ali said the Financial Transactions Reporting Act 2006 may be revised if needed, noting that “no law was cast in stone,” but emphasized that the government must pay equal attention to the importance of the country’s intelligence unit.
He explained that the success of the law does not rest solely on the way it was crafted but also on how it was executed, making the Fiji Financial Intelligence Unit (FFIU) and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) critical in the fight against cybercrime.
“I think the key one is if we have the right intelligence, if we have the right people in the Police and DPP’s office (Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions) because these are critical spaces,” he said, as quoted by Fiji Sun. “You can say we have all this evidence but ultimately we have all these prosecuting agencies, so that to me is one of the things that we need to invest in – the Police and the ODPP’s office.”
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