On 28 August 2026 in Addis Ababa, the African Union Commission, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the World Bank Group launched Integrating Africa: From Threads to Hubs.

The report examines the conditions required to expand regional trade, value chains and production. It identifies interoperability across the systems used by businesses, including customs, standards, transport, payments, energy, services, finance, digital infrastructure and data, as a major component of Africa’s integration agenda. (worldbank.org)

The figures illustrate the scale of the challenge. Intra-African trade accounts for approximately 15 to 20% of the continent’s total trade. The World Bank also estimates that around 60% of trade costs arise within national borders through areas such as customs procedures, logistics, transport restrictions, fragmented standards, services restrictions and infrastructure constraints. (worldbank.org)

The report also estimates that deeper liberalisation of transport, telecommunications, financial and professional services could increase services trade within the AfCFTA area by approximately 60 to 64% by 2035. (worldbank.org)

For the payments industry, these findings lead to a practical question: how can the contribution of payment infrastructure to trade between African businesses be measured?

Payment as part of the business transaction

Consider a Senegalese company purchasing goods from a supplier in another African country.

The company needs information about its supplier and invoice. Supporting documents may be required. Currency conversion may be involved. The payment must be initiated, transmitted, checked and credited. The beneficiary needs to identify the incoming funds and reconcile them with the appropriate invoice. Any exception must be tracked and resolved.

The commercial performance of the payment therefore depends on cost, processing time, availability of funds, applicable rules, data quality, reconciliation and exception handling.

The World Bank report places interoperability within this operating environment. It identifies connected systems as an important condition for firms to source, produce, finance and sell across several markets through predictable procedures. (worldbank.org)

The report also recommends measuring integration through outcomes experienced by firms and citizens, including border-crossing times, logistics costs, regional infrastructure reliability, resolution of non-tariff barriers and participation in regional value chains. (worldbank.org)

The same outcome-based approach can be applied to payments.

Three infrastructures shaping African payments

Several infrastructures illustrate different dimensions of financial interoperability across Africa.

PI-SPI operates across WAEMU. SYSTAC 2 forms part of the modernisation of CEMAC payment infrastructure. PAPSS supports cross-border payments at a pan-African level.

Their scope and functions differ. Together, they provide useful cases for examining how financial infrastructure supports transactions across regional markets.

PI-SPI in WAEMU

The BCEAO officially launched the Interoperable Instant Payment System Platform, PI-SPI, on 30 September 2025.

The platform enables interoperable instant transfers and payments across different types of accounts. It covers several categories of financial institutions, including banks, microfinance institutions, electronic money institutions and payment institutions. (bceao.int)

By 24 June 2026, the BCEAO reported 80 participants connected to PI-SPI, with another 74 institutions undergoing real-world testing before opening services to the public. Several million people already had access to PI-SPI services. (bceao.int)

PI-SPI provides an important environment for assessing how a common regional infrastructure is used by different financial institutions across eight countries sharing the same currency.

Business-related indicators could include payment costs, availability of funds, reconciliation capabilities, institutional coverage and the use of the system for corporate collections and payments.

SYSTAC 2 in CEMAC

On 12 August 2026, the BEAC announced that SYSTAC 2 had entered production as part of the modernisation of CEMAC payment infrastructure. (beac.int)

SYSTAC has historically played a central role in the clearing of retail payment transactions between participants within CEMAC. Its new generation represents an important development for the region’s financial infrastructure.

Earlier BEAC documentation on the project described plans for a more centralised architecture capable of supporting several payment instruments and the development of instant payments. (beac.int)

The evolution of SYSTAC 2 can be assessed through processing times, service availability, participant integration, regional flows and future connections with other African infrastructures.

One significant development occurred in July 2026 when the BEAC officially joined PAPSS, creating a framework linking CEMAC with the pan-African payment system. (papss.com)

PAPSS across African regions

The Pan-African Payment and Settlement System addresses payments between different African markets.

Its process allows an originator to initiate a payment in local currency and the beneficiary to receive funds in local currency. PAPSS states that the relevant instant transactions are processed within 120 seconds. Its instant payment service operates 24/7 and uses ISO 20022 messaging. (papss.com)

PAPSS also provides services including Request to Pay, escrow, remittances, proxy addressing, sanctions screening and reporting tools for reconciliation, exceptions and transactions. (papss.com)

The African Union includes PAPSS among the initiatives helping connect African markets, economies and people. (au.int)

The BEAC’s participation in PAPSS also creates a practical connection between regional and continental payment infrastructure. PAPSS states that the BEAC provides access to the six CEMAC markets of Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Chad. (papss.com)

Regulations and processes surrounding commercial payments

Commercial payments operate within regional and national regulatory frameworks.

In WAEMU, Regulation No. 06/2024/CM/UEMOA governs the external financial relations of member states. The BCEAO published the regulation and its annexes in July 2025. (bceao.int)

Cross-border transactions may therefore involve documentation, reporting and processing requirements according to the type of operation.

Transactions connecting different currency areas also introduce foreign exchange, compliance and supporting-document requirements.

These elements affect the time and cost experienced by businesses.

A commercial interoperability framework can therefore follow the full process from payment initiation to reconciliation with the underlying business transaction.

Eight indicators for measuring commercial impact

PayX proposes eight dimensions for assessing the contribution of payment infrastructure to intra-African trade.

1. Total payment cost

The measure should include:

  • sender fees;
  • beneficiary fees;
  • foreign exchange cost;
  • intermediary charges where applicable;
  • operational costs associated with processing.

The result can be expressed both as an absolute amount and as a percentage of the transaction value.

2. Time to usable funds

Processing speed provides an important technical measure.

Businesses also need to know when the beneficiary can actually use the funds.

The metric can cover initiation, processing, crediting and effective funds availability.

3. Success rate and failure reasons

A global success rate provides an initial view of performance.

Failure reasons can then be classified across categories such as:

  • technical error;
  • incorrect data;
  • participant unavailability;
  • insufficient funds;
  • compliance review;
  • missing documentation;
  • foreign exchange constraint;
  • regulatory limit.

This classification helps identify the main sources of friction on each corridor.

4. Manual intervention

Some transactions require action from bank operations, compliance teams, service providers or customers.

Relevant measures include the share of payments requiring manual processing, the number of interventions, processing time and the reason for each intervention.

5. Business access

Geographic coverage can be complemented with operational access indicators:

  • countries available;
  • active corridors;
  • connected banks;
  • participating fintechs and payment providers;
  • compatible accounts and wallets;
  • SME availability;
  • available initiation channels.

Together, these indicators provide a clearer view of how businesses can use the infrastructure.

6. Foreign exchange quality

For transactions between currency areas, relevant measures include:

  • exchange rate offered;
  • spread against a reference rate;
  • rate transparency before confirmation;
  • conversion fees;
  • conversion time;
  • final amount received.

These factors directly affect supplier cost and payment predictability.

7. Reconciliation quality

Commercial payments need reliable links to invoices and accounting records.

Useful data can include:

  • invoice reference;
  • payer identification;
  • beneficiary identification;
  • amount and currency;
  • value date;
  • fees;
  • transaction status;
  • structured information usable by accounting systems.

PAPSS, for example, uses ISO 20022, which supports richer payment and remittance information. (papss.com)

Data interoperability therefore has a direct role in commercial efficiency.

8. Disputes and exception handling

Businesses also require reliable processes when a payment encounters a problem.

Relevant measures include:

  • average resolution time;
  • dispute resolution rate;
  • transaction status visibility;
  • return or recall processes;
  • assignment of responsibility;
  • refund time;
  • availability of support.

These processes influence business confidence in regional payments.

Connecting payment data with trade systems

Regional payments use information that also appears in other stages of a commercial transaction.

Invoices contain details about the parties, amount, currency and underlying transaction. Customs platforms hold information about goods and their movement. Financial institutions process data for financing, foreign exchange and compliance. Accounting systems require references for reconciliation.

Better data exchange can reduce duplicate entry, manual checks and errors.

This creates important opportunities around electronic invoicing, customs single windows, trade finance and cross-border payments.

The World Bank identifies interoperability across customs, standards, payments, transport, energy and digital systems as one of the practical areas required to turn regional integration commitments into economic activity. (worldbank.org)

This creates a significant area of work for central banks, public administrations, market infrastructures, financial institutions, fintechs and businesses.

Measuring the trade enabled by payment infrastructure

PI-SPI, SYSTAC 2 and PAPSS represent three significant developments in Africa’s financial infrastructure.

Technical and operational data will progressively provide a clearer picture of how these systems are used. Economic analysis can complement that information with questions directly related to businesses:

  • How many SMEs use these infrastructures to pay suppliers in other African countries?
  • Which corridors generate the highest volumes?
  • What is the full cost of a commercial payment?
  • How long does it take for funds to become usable?
  • What are the main causes of failed payments?
  • How many transactions require manual intervention?
  • What is the effective cost of foreign exchange?
  • How quickly can a payment be reconciled with an invoice?
  • How are exceptions and disputes resolved?

These measures can connect infrastructure performance with the business activity it facilitates.

The World Bank recommends measuring integration through tangible outcomes for firms. Applied to African payments, this approach leads to a central indicator: the ability of businesses to pay, collect and manage commercial transactions across African markets in reliable, timely and economically viable conditions.

Payment interoperability can then be assessed as a measurable component of Africa’s commercial integration.