By Thuita Gatero | Managing Editor, Africa Digest News
Charles Kiarie, Director of Visa Direct Business Development for Sub-Saharan Africa, recently made remarks that should have sent ripples through Africa’s fintech and banking corridors.
Kiarie spoke at a fintech forum about digital payments, highlighting that intra-African trade stands at a meager 20% and subtly pointing out the limited integration of commercial banks with cross-border payment systems like PAPSS (Pan-African Payment and Settlement System).
Kenya, East Africa’s tech darling, has only Seven banks integrated with PAPSS. And as the continent looks toward a digital payment future, Visa and other global players continue to dominate the conversation perhaps at the cost of Africa’s own aspirations.
So the questions arise:
Is the emphasis on global payment giants like Visa undermining Africa’s financial sovereignty?
Will we still be talking about these same issues a decade from now?
And, more crucially, is the current model of financial inclusion really inclusive?
Let’s unpack this.
- Visa vs PAPSS: The Unspoken Tug-of-War
Visa has been a long-standing pillar in Africa’s digital payment ecosystem. Its infrastructure is stable, trusted, and widely accepted. But it is, after all, an American multinational with priorities shaped by shareholder returns, not African development.
On the other hand, PAPSS was born out of a need for African countries to pay each other in local currencies without routing transactions through Western banking systems. A true game-changer, it could potentially save the continent over $5 billion annually in currency conversion costs. More than that, it’s a symbolic assertion of financial independence.
Yet, in his remarks, Kiarie focused on Visa’s dominance and made a passing note of Africa’s fragmented integration. That’s telling. It reflects where current investments and attention are going.
Why should this worry us?
Because if Africa is to leap forward in digital finance, the foundation must be African-led, not outsourced to foreign systems with different incentives.
2. Intra-African Trade: The 20% Puzzle
Let’s talk numbers. Intra-European trade stands at over 60%. Intra-Asian trade is at 59%. But Africa? A mere 20%. Why?
One key reason is payment complexity. Sending money from Ghana to Kenya often means routing through New York or London. That’s not just inefficient, it’s a colonial-era hangover that digital platforms should have buried long ago.
But instead of accelerating local systems like PAPSS, Africa’s banks are increasingly cozying up to international platforms.
Only seven banks in Kenya are integrated with PAPSS. That’s alarming for a country that prides itself on fintech innovation. The promise of mobile money, championed by M-Pesa, seems stalled when it comes to cross-border evolution.
The result? A continent rich in ideas but poor in execution. Still tethered to systems that don’t prioritize its growth.
3. The Illusion of Inclusion
“Inclusivity” is the buzzword in fintech. But it often hides a darker truth: many Africans are still locked out of the digital economy.
When platforms like Visa dominate, they often come with fees and technological prerequisites that exclude millions. True financial inclusion must be low-cost, local, and built for real-world African challenges, erratic internet, low smartphone penetration, and a largely informal economy.
PAPSS fits that mold better than Visa or MasterCard. It’s designed to facilitate real-time, cross-border, multi-currency payments without foreign intermediaries. It should be the backbone of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). And yet, adoption is slow.
Why?
Because commercial banks remain hesitant, citing lack of awareness, regulatory uncertainty, and infrastructure gaps. But deeper than that lies a fear: adopting PAPSS reduces dependence on global partners, partners that many banks still trust more than African-built systems.
This, perhaps, is the most uncomfortable truth of all.
4. Is This Acceptable? A Wake-Up Call to African Leaders
Kiarie’s comments were cautious. Diplomatic. Understandably so, he represents Visa. But African leaders and policy makers don’t have the luxury of diplomacy. They must ask hard questions.
Why are local banks dragging their feet on PAPSS?
Why are policymakers not mandating integration?
Why are we building a digital economy on foundations that we do not own?
If the current trajectory continues, we risk building a two-tier payment system, one for Africa’s elites, fluent in Visa and global apps, and another for the informal majority, still excluded from meaningful financial access.
That’s not inclusion. That’s digital apartheid.
As the Akan proverb warns, “The ruin of a nation begins in the homes of its people.”
When technology deepens divides instead of bridging them, we are not innovating, we are entrenching inequality in high definition.
5. Will We Still Be Talking About This in 2035?
The cynic in me says yes. Unless something changes radically. Unless we stop clapping for cosmetic innovation and start investing in real infrastructure.
PAPSS needs to be more than a pilot project. It should be taught in business schools, implemented in policy, and prioritized in every fintech roadmap across the continent.
If not, by 2035 we’ll still be stuck in this endless loop celebrating flashy fintech conferences, while our traders in Lagos and Kigali still use Western rails to pay each other.
Africa’s digital payment future should be African. Not just in name, but in structure, in spirit, and in sovereignty.
This requires courage from regulators, from banks, from investors. Courage to build and trust locals. Courage to disrupt. Courage to lead.
Visa is not the enemy. It is a partner but not a substitute for African ingenuity. Platforms like PAPSS should not play second fiddle. They are not backup options, they are the main act if Africa is serious about self-reliance.
So the next time someone talks about the “future of payments” in Africa, ask them:
Whose future are you building? And who gets left behind?
Only then can we move from tokenism to true transformation.