The Pan African Payments and Settlements System (PAPSS) has acknowledged the onboarding of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and five other Central Banks across the Continent that are currently utilizing the platform for cross-border payments.
The company revealed this through its official twitter handle @papss_africa dated on the 23rd of June this year.
The Africa we want is on!
Mike Ogbalu CEO of #PAPSS shares updates on the journey since the commercial launch in January.https://t.co/7Y4pMKorKc#Afreximbank #AfCFTA #ZLECAf #AU #BorderlessAfrica #ConnectingPayments #CNBC
— Pan-African Payment And Settlement System – PAPSS (@papss_africa) June 23, 2022
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of PAPSS, Mr. Mike Ogbalu said dealing with issues around payments can accelerate Africa’s trade and also strengthen local currencies on the Continent.
The PAPSS Chief said the idea to establish a Pan African Payments System was conceived as far back as 1964, a year after the establishment of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) which is now Africa Union (AU).
He stressed that, PAPSS has made some significant progress as live transactions are actually flowing across some of the participants.
“We have made some significant progress as live transactions are actually flowing across some of the participants. Though, we’re looking forward to a significant ramping off as we enter into the 3rd quarter of 2022. By the time we get into next year, we can begin to see measurable impact that this payment system has made.”
The platform has integrated six Central Banks across Africa and more are in progress. We have also established national switch in Nigeria, Ghana and presently ongoing in the Gambia.
So far PAPSS has integrated the Central Banks of Nigeria, Ghana, Gambia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. The first Commercial Bank that has onboarded is the Access Bank Nigeria LTD.
Ogbula assured that, PAPSS will begin to publish the volume of transactions that has passed through its platform to be able to show the impact that PAPSS has on the Continent’s trade.
PAPSS building trust through three components
The CEO also highlighted that PAPSS is building it’s trust through the following components:
- Having a system that works. This is a system that is able to solve certain problems especially those relating to the purpose for which it was established. “We have a system that has been tested and certified by Central Banks on the Continent.”
- Seeing the value of it’s impact on trade.
- Recognizing that there are other systems that exist on the Continent. “Our role as PAPSS is only to bring those systems together into our integrated network. That way, we can guarantee a seamless experience whether the payment is coming from Cape Town in South Africa to Cairo in Egypt or from Lagos, Nigeria to Nairobi in Kenya. The experience will be such that the payments will be completed in not less than 120 seconds (2 minutes).
The advantageous thing is that, the payments will originate in the domestic currency and arrive to the destination country in their own local currency as well. By so doing, we will strengthen our local currencies.
