The Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) says it is entering a new growth phase after transaction volumes across its network rose by roughly 1,000 percent in a year, with plans to deepen adoption from 2027.
Speaking at a media briefing in Lagos, Nigeria, PAPSS Chief Executive Officer Mike Ogbalu III said the platform now operates in more than 30 African countries across all five regions of the continent, connecting 24 national and regional central banks, more than 200 commercial banks and payments service providers, and 16 switches. Strategic partnerships extend its termination footprint to more than 300 financial institutions, with around 10 additional countries joining the ecosystem in 2026 alone.
Between comparable periods in 2025 and 2026, transaction volumes across the network increased by approximately 1,000 percent, while transaction values rose by approximately 120 percent, according to the company. Nigeria was a significant driver of that growth, recording a roughly 1,100 percent rise in transaction volumes and a 125 percent rise in transaction values over the same period.
PAPSS transactions have also delivered cost savings of between 92 and 95 percent per transaction, a 99.99 percent cut in processing time, and up to an 80 percent reduction in foreign exchange requirements, the company said.
“The first phase of PAPSS has been about building, connecting and establishing trust. We have built the infrastructure, expanded our network across Africa and demonstrated that PAPSS can deliver tangible benefits,” Ogbalu said. “As we move into our next phase from 2027, our focus will increasingly shift towards activating that network, deepening adoption and taking transaction growth to scale.”
He said the next phase would focus on deeper market activation, greater customer awareness, development of priority payment corridors and wider availability of PAPSS services through participating financial institutions. “The next opportunity is to make these benefits available at much greater scale by working more closely with banks, fintechs, switches and other partners to bring PAPSS into the channels businesses and individuals use every day,” he added.
PAPSS currently runs three solutions: the PAPSS Instant Payment System, the PAPSS African Currency Marketplace and PAPSSCARD, with new solutions in the pipeline for later in 2026. The next phase of its strategy will be discussed at PAPSS COWRY 2026, its annual payments conference, set for November 26 and 27 in Addis Ababa, co-hosted with the National Bank of Ethiopia.
PAPSS was adopted by the African Union as the payment and settlement platform underpinning the African Continental Free Trade Agreement and was developed by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), whose total assets and contingencies stood at over $48.5 billion at the end of December 2025.
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