Trade Finance Professionals - PAPSS Adoption Barriers

To transact with each other, payment often has to go through New York or London. In 2026, that’s still the reality for many African businesses. I came across this while researching the cost of cross-border trade, and it made me rethink what “free trade” actually means. Imagine a cocoa-processing company in Cameroon buying packaging materials, machinery, or agricultural inputs from another African country. The transaction isn’t always as simple as converting the CFA franc directly into the seller’s currency. In many cases, the payment has to pass through an intermediary currency, usually the US dollar or euro, before reaching its final destination. That means extra conversion costs, intermediary bank charges, and sometimes delays. For an SME already operating on thin margins, these aren’t small inconveniences. They affect the cost of doing business and the competitiveness of African products. According to AfCFTA estimates, Africa loses close to $5 billion every year to currency conversion costs alone. And this is where I found something interesting. Africa already has a potential solution. The Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), developed by Afreximbank in partnership with the African Union, allows participating banks and businesses to settle cross-border payments in local currencies, reducing the need to route payments through a third currency. On paper, this is exactly the kind of infrastructure regional integration needs. But then comes the familiar problem I keep running into in my research: Having the solution and getting people to use it are two different things. PAPSS still faces real challenges around coverage, banking integration, and awareness among businesses. A business owner can’t benefit from a payment system they’ve never heard of. And awareness alone isn’t enough if their bank or trading partner isn’t connected to it. Africa doesn’t necessarily lack policies, institutions, or solutions. Often, the bigger challenge is moving those solutions from the policy document to the business actually trying to trade. That’s the part of African regional integration I find most interesting. This post is part of my ongoing research series on the policies, institutions, and implementation challenges shaping trade and regional integration across Africa. I’m sharing what I learn while learning from practitioners, policymakers, and businesses across the continent. If you’ve used PAPSS, or tried to, what was the actual friction point? Awareness, your bank not being connected, or something else entirely? I’d particularly like to hear from anyone working in trade finance, banking, payments, or cross-border business. #AfricanTrade #PAPSS #AfCFTA #RegionalIntegration #TradeFinance #Cameroon #EconomicDiplomacy #TradePolicy