PAPSS Set For Expansion to Boost Intra-Africa Trade Payments

The Pan African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) which was launched to make cross-border transactions seamless, is set to capture more markets in Africa.

The Chief Executive Officer of PAPSS, Mr. Mike Ogbalu, disclosed the plan during a stakeholders’ forum held in Lagos.

Ogbolu, who was represented, said Fintech across the continent of Africa can operate more seamlessly and widely with the assistance of PAPSS.

According to him, “Currently, there are numerous impediments and challenges facing intra-African trade payments. Banks must navigate sometimes conflicting local, multi-country and multiregional regulations to enable the seamless movement of funds on behalf of their diverse customers across the continent. Operational inefficiencies and onerous compliance requirements are time-consuming impediments.”

In his opening remarks, Mr. Patrick Akinwunta,  Ex Ecobank Group Managing Director & Regional Executive at Ecobank Nigeria, said banks, their customers and anyone or business involved in financial transactions across the continent of Africa stand to benefit massively from the PAPSS system.

“The essence of PAPSS is to help in cross-border financial settlement with ease, speed and precision. It is a practical process of instant delivery and a major aggregator that brings everybody together. We all need a connecting point; and PAPSS is the big umbrella.

As a centralized Financial Market Infrastructure that enables the efficient flow of money securely across African borders, minimizing risk and contributing to financial integration across the regions, PAPSS works in collaboration with Africa’s central banks to provide a payment and settlement service to which commercial banks and licensed payment service providers across the region can connect as ‘Participants’.

In his presentation, Mr. Osita Ugwu, Chief Technology Officer at PAPSS, disclosed that 60 banks have already gone live on PAPSS platform, while another 60 are doing integration.

According to him, “By year end, we are expecting 23 banks to be integrated. As of today, 60 banks are doing integration and another 60 banks are going live.”