In the media

The missing link: Africa’s $1.4 billion-person market needs one payment language

Africa’s payment landscape is not lacking infrastructure, but cohesion. While the continent has developed dozens of instant payment systems, most operate in isolation due to differing regulatory frameworks, compliance requirements, and currencies. This fragmentation continues to make cross-border payments costly, slow, and unpredictable, limiting trade and financial inclusion, particularly for small businesses.

Latest

2 May 2024 / Central Bank Payments News

AfricaNenda: Key Trends Shaping the Instant Payment Systems Landscape in Africa

The instant payment systems (IPS) landscape in Africa is vibrant, propelled by the growing need for faster, interoperable, more secure, more affordable, and more convenient retail payment options.

24 April 2024 / techcabal

Africa’s digital future: Why transparent data is key to financial inclusion

While on a speaking tour in 2022 to share findings from a report I co-authored, a central bank official from West Africa shared a key observation. The report aimed to document the relationship between financial inclusion and the infrastructure provided by inclusive, instant payment systems, based on data available publicly.

24 April 2024 / ecdpm

Gaps in interoperability as barriers to inclusive digital payments in Africa

Ennatu Domingo and AfricaNenda’s Jacqueline Jumah and Sabine Mensah argue that instant payment systems play a crucial role in Africa’s digital public infrastructure, but that there are still many barriers to its interoperability – which Europe can help address.