Can One System Bind a Continent? Reflections on PAPSS and the Promise of Seamless Trade

In the soft glow of an early Davos morning, where conversations about global futures unfold like a tapestry stretching between continents, a thought emerges about the invisible threads that bind us: how money moves, how people trade, and how a shared dream can reshape everyday life. Just as rivers carve new routes through familiar landscapes, so too does the idea of financial connectivity meander through Africa’s economic imagination. It is here — among policymakers, bankers, and innovators — that a gentle but persistent call has been made: to adopt a new way of moving money across the continent.

At the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos, the Secretary-General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, Wamkele Mene, spoke with a quiet sense of urgency about the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS). In his reflections shared during a roundtable focused on unlocking trade and investment, Mene emphasized that Africa’s journey toward economic integration cannot fully unfold unless the flow of funds across borders becomes as natural as the breeze that carries seeds from one field to another. This is no mere technical adjustment; it is an invitation to reimagine commerce in terms that honor both efficiency and inclusion.

PAPSS, conceived to lower transaction costs and enable instant settlement in local currencies, holds the promise of knitting together a continent where trade can flourish without the heavy burden of foreign exchange barriers and long, circuitous routes through global intermediaries. Yet, despite its potential, adoption by African banks — the very institutions that shepherd trust and value — has not always matched the pace envisaged by its champions. Mene’s words at Davos, then, are not a rebuke but a reminder of the latent promise that awaits fuller embrace by the financial community.

Across the expanse of Africa’s banking landscape, pilots and integrations are quietly taking root. In places from East Africa to West Africa, commercial banks and central banks have begun linking up with PAPSS to enable cross-border transactions that are faster, cheaper, and more secure. The initiative’s journey has involved collaboration with institutions like Afreximbank and national payment platforms, underscoring a collective aspiration for a more interconnected economic future.

Yet, the path forward still beckons. For change to take deeper hold, the heart of Africa’s financial systems — its banks — must see PAPSS not merely as another instrument but as a shared bridge to broader prosperity. In that view, adopting PAPSS becomes akin to tuning instruments in an orchestra: each bank’s participation enriches the collective harmony.

What moves money also moves opportunity, and as African leaders continue to weave together policies that reinforce continental trade, the call for urgent adoption by banks echoes a hopeful refrain — that barriers give way not by force, but through choice, collaboration, and a shared sense of purpose. In embracing PAPSS, Africa edges closer to the promise of a marketplace without invisible borders, where enterprise and aspiration can travel freely from one corner of the continent to another

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Sources (Media/Agencies)

1. Business & Financial Times — reporting on AfCFTA and PAPSS call to action.

2. News Ghana — coverage of AfCFTA chief urging PAPSS adoption.

3. Afreximbank press coverage (mainstream industry press) — PAPSSCARD launch as part of broader PAPSS developments.

4. Guardian / Independent coverage of bank involvement in PAPSS ecosystem (commercial banks supporting adoption).

5. Industry reporting on broader PAPSS adoption and integration (e.g., KCB Group, Bank of Kigali integrating PAPSS).