Abuja, Nigeria – 7 July 2025
The Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) and leading African deep-tech company Interstellar have jointly launched the PAPSS African Currency Marketplace (PACM) — a landmark platform designed to unlock intra-African trade by eliminating the long-standing challenge of currency inconvertibility.
The announcement was made during the Afreximbank Annual Meetings (AAM2025) in Abuja, in the presence of key stakeholders from across Africa’s financial and trade sectors.
The PAPSS African Currency Marketplace is a next-generation financial market infrastructure that allows direct, transparent, and real-time exchange of local African currencies — eliminating the need for intermediary hard currencies such as the US Dollar or Euro.
“PACM represents a strategic evolution of our mission to build frictionless, sovereign financial infrastructure for Africa,” said Mike Ogbalu III, CEO of PAPSS. “By creating a continent-wide liquidity pool, we’re addressing the estimated $5 billion lost annually through inefficient currency conversion processes and trapped capital.”
Launched in partnership with Interstellar, PACM is built on enterprise-grade, blockchain-agnostic infrastructure that ensures regulatory compliance, transparency, and institutional-grade security. During its pilot phase, over 80 African corporates transacted across 12 currency pairs using the platform — all settled in local currency.
“African currencies deserve a better place in the world,” said Ernest Mbenkum, CEO of Interstellar. “With PACM, we are not just exchanging value — we are enabling a new era of opportunity and financial independence across Africa.”
PAPSS has already connected more than 150 commercial banks and 14 national switches, laying the foundation for a fully integrated African financial ecosystem. PACM complements this by resolving issues of capital repatriation, currency mismatch, and payment delays for African corporations, SMEs, airlines, and multinationals.
“This is not just technology; it is transformation,” added Mbenkum. “Together with PAPSS, we are building rails that serve Africa — not rails that Africa must borrow.”
Haytham El Maayergi, Executive Vice President of Afreximbank, praised the launch as a practical step toward accelerating intra-African trade.
“This platform gives us the power to trade with each other and in each other’s currencies. Africa will not rise by ideas. Africa will rise by actions.”
The PAPSS African Currency Marketplace is now open to licensed corporations, financial institutions, and payment service providers across Africa. With rising interest from beyond the continent, PAPSS and Interstellar are poised to scale this innovation globally, reinforcing Africa’s position as a trailblazer in inclusive fintech infrastructure.
Source:
Afreximnbank Press Release
