Borders Open. Payment Schemes Stay Local
For years, a trader in Nairobi selling to a buyer in Lagos or Douala had an odd problem. The goods could cross the border, but the money went the long way round. It was changed into US dollars or euros, sent through banks outside Africa, then changed back at the other end. That took days, and the fees ate into margins that were already thin. The African Continental Free Trade Area was meant to make this trade easier, and payments have been slow to catch up.
The fix now taking shape is a layer that connects the payment systems Africa already has. The Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), built by Afreximbank with the AfCFTA Secretariat, lets the sender pay in their own currency while the receiver gets paid in theirs. PAPSS changes the currency and settles the payment in the middle, and each country’s system keeps its own rules, brand and customers.
This year we’ve seen it work. In February, Kenya’s instant payment network Pesalink joined PAPSS, linking its 80-plus members to the 160-plus banks and fintechs already on it. In July, the Bank of Central African States (BEAC) joined, bringing in the six CEMAC countries.
How a PAPSS payment works
- Sender’s bank: sends the payment in the sender’s currency, e.g. Kenyan shillings.
- PAPSS: checks it and changes the currency, usually within 120 seconds.
- Receiver’s bank: pays the receiver in their own currency, e.g. Nigerian naira.
Each day, central banks settle net positions and Afreximbank settles the balance in hard currency.
EAPS vs PAPSS
Since 2013, EAPS has linked the central bank payment systems of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, later joined by Rwanda, so East African banks can pay each other in their own currencies. PAPSS does the same across Africa, changing between currencies and settling once a day through Afreximbank.
This article first appeared in Payment Samachar, Edition 3 (November 2026).
