The Pan African Payments and Settlement System (PAPSS), which was launched to make cross-border transactions seamless, is set to conquer more markets in Africa.
The Managing Director of PAPSS, Mr. Mike Ogbalu, disclosed the plan during a stakeholders forum held in Lagos.
Ogbolu, who represented, said Fintech across the African continent can operate more seamlessly and widely with the help of PAPSS.
According to him, “currently, there are many obstacles and challenges facing payments in intra-African trade. Banks have to implement sometimes conflicting local, multinational and multi-regional regulations to enable the smooth movement of funds on behalf of their different clients across the continent. Operational inefficiencies and burdensome compliance requirements are time-consuming obstacles.”
In his opening remarks, Mr. Patrick Akinwunta, former Ecobank Group Managing Director & Regional Executive at Ecobank Nigeria, said banks, their customers and anyone or business involved in financial transactions across the African continent stand to benefit massively from the PAPSS system.
“The essence of PAPSS is to assist in cross-border financial settlement with ease, speed and accuracy. It’s a hands-on, instant delivery process and an important rallying factor that brings everyone together. We all need a point of connection. and PAPSS is the big umbrella.
As a central financial market infrastructure that enables the efficient and secure flow of money across Africa’s borders, minimizing risk and contributing to economic integration across regions, PAPSS works 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 log in as “Participants”.
In his presentation, Mr. Osita Ugwu, Chief Technology Officer at PAPSS, disclosed that 60 banks have already started operating on the PAPSS platform, while another 60 are consolidating.
According to him, “By the end of the year we expect 23 banks to be consolidated. As of today, 60 banks are consolidating and another 60 banks are operational.”