*** Photo: Dr. Younoussa Imani, Governor of the Central Bank of Comoros (middle) and Mr. John Bosco Sebabi, Deputy Managing Director of PAPSS (to his right) chaired a workshop between PAPSS and stakeholders in the Comoros financial ecosystem – Wednesday, August 21, 2024 at the BCC headquarters in Moroni.***
Moroni, August 23, 2024 – The Central Bank of Comoros (Banque Centrale des Comores-BCC) and the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) announce the official commencement of activities for the implementation of PAPSS in Comoros. This initiative, supported by Afreximbank and the African Union, is part of efforts to make the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) a reality by facilitating cross-border payments in local currencies of member countries.
Designed to simplify transactions between African countries, the PAPSS now enables Comorians to make payments to other countries on the continent directly in Comorian francs. This represents a considerable advantage for the State, the private sector and households, by reducing the costs and delays of their transfers, while eliminating the need to convert to foreign currency. With the PAPSS, payments will be made in a record time of 120 seconds and at a lower cost.
As part of this initiative, the Central Bank of Comoros signed the membership agreement in July 2024 and joined the PAPSS network. On 21 August, the BCC and PAPSS co-organized a workshop at the BCC headquarters, bringing together the Chief Executive Officers of Commercial Banks and Microfinance Institutions in Comoros. This workshop provided an opportunity to present in detail the functioning of PAPSS and its advantages, especially for local traders who will now be able to expand their activities to other African markets without traditional financial barriers.
At the end of the workshop, a press conference was held with the participation of Dr Younoussa Imani, Governor of the BCC and Mr John Bosco Sebabi, Deputy CEO of PAPSS.
Mr Sebabi stressed that: “the implementation of PAPSS in the Comoros is a decisive step in the deployment of the system throughout the African continent. PAPSS represents a significant step towards financial integration in Africa, not only facilitating trade transactions between the Comoros and other African countries, but also contributing to the achievement of the objectives of the AfCFTA. Our ambition is to improve trade and strengthen economic integration on the continent.”
The Governor of the BCC launched an appeal to commercial banks to join the PAPSS, a necessary condition for Comorians to benefit from this continental platform. This system facilitates banking sector transactions in Africa.
This partnership between the BCC and PAPSS reflects a shared desire to promote a more inclusive and accessible financial system in Comoros. Commercial Banks in Comoros will soon begin integrating into PAPSS, enabling their customers to make payments across Africa, whether in-branch or via digital banking services.
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About PAPSS
The Pan-African Payment and Settlement System – PAPSS is a centralized Financial Market Infrastructure that enables the efficient flow of money securely across African borders, minimizing risk and contributing to financial integration across the regions. PAPSS works in collaboration with Africa’s central banks to provide a payment and settlement service to which commercial banks and licensed payment service providers across the region can connect as ‘Participants’. Afreximbank and the African Union (“AU”) first announced PAPSS at the Twelfth Extraordinary Summit of the African Union held on July 7, 2019, in Niamey, Niger Republic, therefore adopting PAPSS as a key instrument for the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). Further, in its thirteenth (13th) extraordinary session, held on the December 5, 2020, the assembly of African Union recommitted and instructed the Afreximbank and the AfCFTA secretariat to finalize among others, work on the Pan-African Payments and Settlements System (PAPSS). The 35th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the AU, further directed the AfCFTA and Afreximbank to deploy the system to cover the entire continent. PAPSS was officially launched in Accra, Ghana on January 13, 2022, thus making it available for use by the public.