Pan-African Payment & Settlement System - PAPSS

The Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) is a cross-border, financial market infrastructure developed in collaboration with the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat. Its primary mission is to facilitate payment transactions across Africa in local currencies, aiming to simplify and reduce the cost of intra-African trade. By providing a centralized clearing and settlement system, PAPSS eliminates the need for transactions to be cleared through correspondent banks outside the continent (typically in USD or EUR), which saves the continent an estimated US$5 billion annually in transaction costs and reduces payment processing times from days to near-instant.