Zitouna Payment

Zitouna Payment (Zitouna Paiement) is a payment institution created in May 2021 as a subsidiary of Banque Zitouna, the Islamic bank. It was approved by the Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT) under Law 2016-48 and Circular 2018-16; our research on Islamic fintech dates the approval to November 2021. At launch, Banque Zitouna held 51% of the company, alongside group companies Zitouna Takaful and Zitouna Finance. In March 2022 it launched izi, a mobile payment app offering account opening, cash-in and cash-out, person-to-person transfers, bill payments and phone top-ups for all operators. A network of mandated agents lets customers without a smartphone carry out operations, and the company said it started with 500 agents. In May 2024 the BCT admitted Zitouna Pay to the SIBTEL interbank clearing system as a participant, alongside Payvago, allowing it to clear transactions with banks directly. Zitouna Payment has not published user or transaction figures that we could find. It is one of the bank-owned payment institutions now subject to BCT Circular 2026-10.