PAPSS Explained: How African Businesses Can Pay Each Other Without Dollars

Paying a supplier in another African country usually means converting to US dollars first and waiting days for the money to arrive. PAPSS skips that: the payment goes directly in local currency and can land in about two minutes.

As of October 2026, it covers more than 180 banks and payment providers across 22 countries, including Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda and Tanzania, but not South Africa yet. Here's how it works and how to use it.

Why this matters if you trade across African borders

Say you run an electronics shop in Nairobi and your supplier is in Lagos. The old way: your bank converts your shillings into US dollars and wires them to a bank in the US or Europe, which converts the dollars into naira, and your supplier's bank finally credits the naira. A margin is taken at every conversion, and it takes days. PAPSS cuts out the dollar step completely. You pay in KES, your supplier receives NGN, and the two central banks settle the difference between themselves once a day.

This isn't a remittance app for individuals. It's built for banks, mobile money operators and licensed payment providers to settle business payments with each other. You still go through your own bank or wallet, and you just benefit from the shorter route in the background. If you're sending money for personal reasons rather than paying a supplier, our guide to the cheapest ways to send money to Africa covers the options.

How a PAPSS payment works

PAPSS itself lays out the process in six steps for anyone using it through a participating bank or wallet:

1. Check that your bank or mobile wallet uses PAPSS. Not every bank has signed up yet, so ask directly or check the live list at papss.com.
2. Confirm the receiving country is covered. PAPSS is being rolled out gradually; as of June 2026 it's live in 22 African countries.
3. Initiate the payment through your bank's mobile app, internet banking, or a branch visit.
4. At a branch, say you want a PAPSS transfer. Staff at participating banks are trained to process it as a separate option, not a normal SWIFT transfer.
5. Follow the on-screen or staff instructions, entering the receiver's bank and account details and the amount in your own currency.
6. The transfer completes, and the money is paid to the recipient in their local currency.

In the background, PAPSS checks the instruction, converts the value at its own reference rate, and sends it to the receiving bank. The banks settle through their central banks once a day: Afreximbank, acting as the settlement agent, and the central banks only settle the net difference in what each country owes the other. That's what lets each payment clear in minutes instead of days.

Which banks already support PAPSS

Coverage is real but uneven. Here's what PAPSS's own network coverage document (dated June 2026) shows for our focus countries:

That last line is the one worth sitting with if you're a South African business. South Africa isn't a small or disconnected economy, it's the opposite, yet none of its banks appear on PAPSS's own coverage document. If you run a business like a spaza shop in South Africa and buy stock from elsewhere on the continent, you're still on the old route (SWIFT, correspondent banking, or a licensed money transfer operator) until that changes. Ask your bank directly if this has moved since; PAPSS adds participants regularly.

For a Nigerian business on the receiving end, say you run a POS business in Nigeria and also import stock from Kenya or Ghana, Nigeria's 23 connected banks mean you've got a wide choice of where to bank for this.

What PAPSS saves you, in practical terms

The clearest independent figure on why this matters: the World Bank's Remittance Prices Worldwide report put the average cost of sending money to Sub-Saharan Africa at 8.45% of the amount sent in the third quarter of 2024, against a 6.6% global average. That made it the most expensive region measured. The figure is for person-to-person transfers, not PAPSS business payments, because PAPSS doesn't publish its own fees (your bank sets what it charges). But the reason African cross-border payments cost so much is built into the system: every bank in the chain and every currency conversion takes its own cut. PAPSS removes the biggest of those steps by letting the two local currencies trade directly.

In practice that means:

• No USD conversion spread on either end of the payment.
• No correspondent bank fee sitting in the middle of the chain.
• Minutes, not days, so you're not carrying exchange-rate risk while a payment is in transit.

That doesn't mean the transfer is free. Your bank still adds its margin on the exchange rate and may charge a transfer fee, so ask about both before you send anything large.

Limits and risks to know

• Both sides must be connected. If your supplier's bank isn't on PAPSS (directly or through the wider network), you can't use it for that payment, and you'll have to use the normal route.
• "Reachable" isn't the same as "can send." Several countries' extended-network banks can only receive PAPSS payments, not send them. Check which direction your bank supports.
• South Africa isn't covered. If you trade with South African partners, don't assume PAPSS works there. As of June 2026, it doesn't, for any bank.
• The list keeps changing. New banks sign up every few months. Always confirm with your own bank rather than relying on an article or a PDF that might already be out of date.
• Your bank still sets the exchange rate. PAPSS handles the cross-border mechanics; your bank's margin on the conversion is a separate conversation worth having before you commit to a large payment.

Frequently asked questions

Is PAPSS available in South Africa?

No. As of PAPSS's own June 2026 network coverage document, South Africa has no banks listed as PAPSS participants and isn't reachable through its extended network either. South African businesses trading elsewhere on the continent still need to use SWIFT, correspondent banking, or a licensed money transfer operator.

How much does a PAPSS transfer cost?

PAPSS doesn't publish a standard fee. Your own bank sets the charge and the exchange rate margin for a PAPSS transfer, just as it does for any transfer, so ask your bank for both figures before you send. What PAPSS removes is the extra cost of converting through US dollars and paying a bank abroad along the way, which is usually the biggest part of the cost.

Can I use PAPSS through M-Pesa or another mobile wallet, not just a bank?

Mobile money operators and other licensed payment providers can join PAPSS too, not just banks. In Kenya, the network has grown through Pesalink, which links in SACCOs and telcos as well as banks, and other countries have mobile wallets in their wider networks. Ask your provider whether it's connected yet.

Is PAPSS the same thing as a SWIFT transfer?

No. SWIFT is a messaging network that typically routes African cross-border payments through correspondent banks and a hard currency like the US dollar. PAPSS settles directly between African central banks in local currencies, without that detour, which is why it's usually faster and avoids one layer of conversion costs.

How long does a PAPSS payment take?

PAPSS says a transfer between two participating banks usually clears in about two minutes. That's the PAPSS part only. Your own bank may take longer to process the instruction before it reaches PAPSS.

Which Kenyan banks support PAPSS right now?

As of June 2026, Access Bank, African Banking Corporation, KCB, Stanbic Bank and UBA are direct PAPSS participants in Kenya. Pesalink's integration, announced in February 2026, also opens receiving to more than 80 additional Kenyan banks, SACCOs, fintechs and telcos on its network. Confirm directly with your bank, since more are added regularly.