The Pan-African Payments and Settlement System (PAPSS)

PAPSS is a centralised payment and settlement infrastructure for intra-African trade and commerce payments. This project which is being developed in collaboration with the African Export-Import Bank, Afreximbank will facilitate payments as well as formalise some of the unrecorded trade due to prevalence of informal cross-border trade in Africa.

It will also provide alternative to current high-cost and lengthy correspondent banking relationships to facilitate trade and other economic activities among African countries through a simple, low-cost and risk-controlled payment clearing and settlement system.

The benefits of PAPPS for cross-border payments include cost reduction; reduction in duration and time variability; decreasing liquidity requirements of commercial banks; decreasing liquidity requirements of central banks for settlement as well as its own payments; and strengthening Central Banks’ oversight of cross border payment systems.