Instant (also known as Fast, Real-Time, or Immediate) Payment Systems (IPS) are no longer an experiment on the margins of financial infrastructure. Across Africa, they are fast becoming core national assets—foundational digital public infrastructure with the potential to accelerate financial inclusion, deepen competition, and support economic growth.

Today, we are pleased to announce the publication of a new joint White Paper: Scaling Instant Payments in Africa: Policy Choices for Central Banks. This White Paper represents a collaboration between a group of technical agencies actively supporting IPS design and rollout across the continent: AfricaNenda Foundation, Arab Monetary Fund, Better Than Cash Alliance and the World Bank. Together, these partners work daily with central banks, finance ministries, regulators, and payment system operators. What unites us is a shared objective: to see inclusive, interoperable instant payments become a practical reality in every African country.

But this White Paper goes further than technical design principles or system architectures. It asks a more fundamental question in order to guide central banks and financial authorities:

Why do some IPSs scale into economy-wide platforms—while others stall after launch?

Nearly half of African Union member states now have a live domestic IPS, with many more in development. Momentum is building, driven by national digital strategies, regional integration ambitions, and growing recognition that instant payments underpin everything from social transfers to merchant digitization.

Yet experience across Africa and globally shows that simply launching an IPS is not enough. Usage, awareness, trust, sustainability, and fair competition—not technology—are now the binding constraints.

As retail instant payments become embedded in government disbursements, remittances, and everyday commerce, early policy choices on access, pricing, governance, and fraud management are proving path-dependent. Once set, they are difficult to reverse—and can shape market structure for decades.

This White Paper is designed to help central banks navigate that moment.

A defining feature of this work is its empirical foundation. Alongside a consolidated review of global evidence, the paper draws on new qualitative research with private-sector payment service providers (PSPs) across 20 African countries. This included:

• Focus groups convened with fintechs, banks, and mobile money operators

• Structured interviews with senior executives from non-bank PSPs, ranging from unicorn-scale firms to smaller national players

• Input from payment hub operators working across multiple jurisdictions

These conversations surfaced a consistent message. Across countries at very different stages of IPS maturity, PSPs ranked two barriers above all others:

1. A weak or uncertain business case for participation

1. Policy, legal, and regulatory frictions that fall squarely within the central bank’s sphere of influence

Other challenges—connectivity, consumer awareness, or technical readiness—certainly matter. But providers were clear: without viable economics and predictable regulatory environments, sustained private investment is unlikely to follow.

Just as importantly, PSPs highlighted how specific regulatory choices affect outcomes on the ground: restrictive licensing for non-banks, unequal access to clearing and settlement, mandated zero-pricing without a funding model, limited consultation mechanisms, and insufficient attention to fraud and dispute resolution.

These are not abstract concerns. They shape whether instant payments become a daily utility for households and merchants—or remain a niche channel.

One of the White Paper’s central arguments is that IPS success depends less on features and more on governance and incentives.

Central banks already play multiple roles in this ecosystem: regulator, overseer, catalyst, and increasingly, operator. In many African countries, the central bank now directly owns or runs the IPS. That reality raises both opportunities and risks.

On the positive side, public operation can accelerate deployment where industry coordination has failed. But it also introduces potential conflicts of interest and new capacity demands, especially in a 24/7 retail environment very different from traditional RTGS systems.

The paper therefore urges central banks to move beyond narrow oversight toward active stewardship—deliberately shaping governance, participation rules, pricing frameworks, and trust mechanisms.

In practical terms, it proposes five strategic pillars for action:

1. Strengthen internal payments capacity
   Building teams with the skills and resources required to supervise complex, always-on digital ecosystems.

1. Actively champion IPS development
   Convening stakeholders, aligning regulators, and embedding IPS within national payment strategies.

1. Proactively bolster digital trust
   Addressing fraud, scams, and disputes through coordinated national approaches and clear liability frameworks.

1. Intentionally shape a viable PSP business case
   Providing clarity on pricing, reducing disproportionate compliance costs, and understanding diverse provider models.

1. Remove unnecessary barriers to non-bank participation
   Enabling risk-managed access to clearing—and in some cases settlement—to foster competition and reach.

Underlying all five is a simple principle: an IPS should be treated as market-wide digital public infrastructure, not merely as a technology project.

Rather than measuring success by launch dates or feature lists, the White Paper encourages central banks to judge progress using outcome-oriented questions which should be tracked over time:

• Is the system used daily by households, merchants, and government—or only occasionally?

• Is governance credible and insulated from conflicts of interest?

• Is it trusted by consumers and providers alike?

• Is it financially and operationally sustainable?

• Is it competitively neutral?

These questions matter just as much in countries preparing their first IPS as in those seeking to move toward more advanced, interoperable systems.

There is no single African model for instant payments—and there shouldn’t be. Local context matters.

But there are common patterns in what works and what doesn’t. Systems that scale tend to prioritize openness, proportional regulation, structured industry dialogue, and sustained attention to trust. Those that stagnate often suffer from unclear incentives, fragmented governance, or over-centralized control.

This White Paper offers a practical framework to help central banks make these choices deliberately, informed by both global evidence and the lived experience of African PSPs.

For countries without an IPS, it is an opportunity to build on foundations that are known to scale.

For those with live systems, it is a reminder that maturity is a journey—requiring ongoing vigilance, adaptation, and collaboration.

The prize is significant: instant payments that truly serve as a platform for inclusion, faster economic growth, and resilience across African economies.

We invite central bankers, regulators, development partners, and market participants to engage with the findings—and to continue the dialogue on how Africa’s IPSs can move from rails to real impact.