The Bank of Tanzania has opened applications for the third cohort of its Fintech Regulatory Sandbox, giving banks, mobile money operators, electronic money issuers and fintech companies until 31 July 2026 to apply.

The application window opened through a Bank of Tanzania notice dated 24 June 2026, according to TanzaniaInvest. Applications are being submitted through the sandbox portal at frsp.bot.go.tz under the BOT (Fintech Regulatory Sandbox) Regulations of 2024.

The central bank said only products and services not already covered by existing regulatory frameworks will be considered for admission. That condition keeps the sandbox focused on genuinely new financial products, rather than products that already fit within the licensing and supervision rules now in place.

The notice was signed by Sauda Msemo, Deputy Governor for Financial Stability and Deepening. The Bank also said it may publish relevant applicant information to support knowledge transfer and collaboration with international regulators, while withholding proprietary and intellectual property details.

The sandbox gives fintech firms and regulated financial institutions a supervised route to test products before wider market rollout. For Tanzania's financial-services market, the third intake matters because digital credit, digital savings, mobile payments and alternative financial products have been scaling quickly, increasing the need for clearer testing pathways before new models reach consumers at scale.

The target applicant list is broad. Banks and financial institutions can use the process to test products that sit outside conventional banking rules, while mobile money operators and electronic money issuers can bring payment-linked products into a controlled environment. Fintech companies without a traditional banking base also get a formal route to regulatory engagement before commercial expansion.

For investors and operators, the sandbox is a signal that the Bank of Tanzania is continuing to build a structured innovation pipeline rather than leaving new products to navigate regulation only after launch. That can reduce uncertainty for serious firms, but it also raises the bar for documentation, consumer protection and regulatory fit.

The opening follows earlier sandbox rounds, including a second cohort launched in 2025. The immediate deadline for the third cohort is now the key operating date: applications close on Friday, 31 July 2026.