The Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), launched by African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) (www.Afreximbank.com) in collaboration with the African Union Commission (AUC) and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, has recorded a significant milestone in its journey towards enhancing financial integration and economic prosperity across Africa with the official launch of the platform by KCB Group in Kenya and Bank of Kigali in Rwanda.

The launches, by the Bank of Kigali in Kigali on 26^th February and KCB in Nairobi on 27^th February, made the two banks the first in their respective countries to integrate the transformative system into their operations, underscoring their commitment to championing intra-African trade and supporting the efforts of the AfCFTA.

KCB and Bank of Kigali customers will now be able to send and receive cross-border payments using PAPSS. The service is fully operational and accessible via the banks’ mobile applications and branch networks, enabling seamless transactions across African borders. With this launch, businesses and individuals can benefit from faster, more cost-effective, and secure payments without relying on correspondent banks or third-party currencies.

Highlighting the benefits of PAPSS to customers of KCB and Bank of Kigali, Mike Ogbalu III, CEO of PAPSS, said, “The customers will experience faster, more cost-effective, and secure cross-border transactions from the comfort of their banks’ mobile applications or through their branches. Businesses can trade more freely and competitively by eliminating the need for correspondent banks outside the continent and removing dependencies on third-party currencies. This transformation is set to unlock new opportunities for trade and investment, allowing African SMEs to access broader markets and contribute to local economies.”

Mr. Ogbalu III expressed deep gratitude to KCB and Bank of Kigali for their pioneering roles in adopting the PAPSS initiative and commended Paul Russo, KCB Group CEO, and Dr. Diane Karusisi, CEO of Bank of Kigali, “for their “visionary leadership and unwavering commitment”.

He noted that the PAPSS network, which began in 2022 in a pilot phase across the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ), had successfully grown to include 15 central banks, over 150 commercial banks, and 14 switches, adding that the current “expansion marks a significant stride toward our goal of connecting the entire continent, ensuring that every African citizen can benefit from seamless, cost-effective cross-border transactions”.

“With only 16 per cent of Africa’s total trade occurring intra-regionally, the launch of PAPSS in Kenya and Rwanda is a significant step in unlocking the continent’s potential,” continued Mr. Ogbalu III. “We believe that this innovative financial market infrastructure will facilitate greater trade opportunities, economic growth, and financial empowerment between the Eastern African countries and the rest of Africa.”

He called on other central and commercial banks in Eastern Africa to join the PAPSS family in order to play a pivotal role in the AfCFTA as it worked to build a more prosperous and unified Africa.

Speaking on the milestone, KCB Group CEO, Paul Russo, said: “We want to play a bigger role in catalyzing trade and payments in Africa and beyond, leveraging our digital capabilities and regional footprint. Our entry into PAPSS aligns perfectly with our strategy of supporting economic growth in Kenya and across Africa by facilitating seamless financial transactions.”

Dr. Diane Karusisi, CEO of Bank of Kigali, highlighted the significance of the partnership: “This system allows people to send money quickly. For example, if someone sends Rwandan francs from Rwanda, it can reach Ghana in their local currency. The system converts the currency to meet the local requirements. Entrepreneurs in Rwanda can now receive payments instantly in Rwandan francs or USD from any member country. This service is fast, affordable, and reliable.”

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Afreximbank.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, March 6, 2025/APO Group/ –In a move to enhance digital security on the African continent, Kaspersky (www.Kaspersky.co.za) has signed a three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Smart Africa. This landmark agreement is set to drive collaborative efforts aimed at expanding cybersecurity capabilities throughout Africa.

The partnership focuses on building essential cybersecurity skills via training programs, including those offered by the Kaspersky Academy (https://apo-opa.co/41r6HzS) — an international educational venture established in 2010 with a mission to drive the best cybersecurity education to build a safer digital world. Another major focus of the partnership will be addressing gender disparities by supporting initiatives that empower girls and women in the fields of cybersecurity, STEM, and ICT, which is a continuation of Kaspersky’s efforts aimed at empowering female professionals (https://apo-opa.co/4h51gwk) in IT and attracting more women in the field.

In addition to human capacity development, the collaboration aims to standardise cybersecurity policies by pooling both organisations to create harmonised regional and national frameworks. This effort involves working closely with cybersecurity authorities, law enforcement agencies, computer emergency response teams, industry leaders, and other key stakeholders to ensure a unified approach to digital security.

Moreover, the initiative is geared towards strengthening technological defenses. This includes establishing critical cyber infrastructures such as security operation centers and computer emergency response teams, as well as offering expert technical consulting to prevent and mitigate the effects of cybercrime.

Lacina Koné, CEO of Smart Africa, commented: “This MoU marks a significant milestone in our quest to secure Africa’s digital future. By joining forces with Kaspersky, we are not only building essential cybersecurity skills and bridging the gender gap but also setting the stage for robust regional cooperation and state-of-the-art cyber infrastructure.”

Eugene Kaspersky, founder and CEO of Kaspersky, noted: “Our strategic partnership with Smart Africa is designed to help create a more secure cyberspace across the continent and beyond. We see this initiative as a commitment to empowering both individual users and organisations to ensure that everyone can navigate the digital world safely and with confidence.”

This partnership reflects Kaspersky’s commitment to a collaborative approach in creating a more safe and secure digital space by building strategic partnerships helping to enhance efforts aimed at boosting the global cyber resilience. It also builds on the momentum of the recently established African Network of Cybersecurity Authorities (ANCA), a collaborative initiative designed by Smart Africa to bring together cybersecurity authorities from African countries to address the growing challenges posed by cyber threats and crimes.

Together with Smart Africa’s unwavering commitment to building a secure, inclusive, and digitally empowered continent, the joint cooperation is poised to address the evolving challenges of the cyber world and position Africa as a model of digital security innovation.

CAIRO, Egypt, March 6, 2025/APO Group/ —In a significant move aimed at boosting industrial development across Africa, African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) (www.Afreximbank.com) signed a US$450 million global credit facility with ARISE IIP, the leading pan-African developer and operator of world-class industrial parks. This financing will support the development of industrial parks and Special Economic Zones (SEZ), while also providing crucial trade finance support to businesses operating within the ARISE IIP ecosystem. 

 

The US$ 450 million, granted in the context of Afreximbank’s strategic objective of promoting, facilitating, and supporting Africa’s industrialisation ecosystems, is part of a proposed US$ 800-million facility to support ARISE IIP in developing Industrial Parks (IPs) and SEZs in such countries as Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Chad, Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Malawi, among others.

Under the terms of the facility agreement, ARISE IIP will deploy US$ 300 million to finance working capital requirements for its operating Industrial Parks (GDIZ-Benin, PIA-Togo, LAHAM TCHAD-Chad, PEIA-Cote d’Ivoire and BSEZ-Rwanda) and for capital expenditures for the development of new industrial parks in DRC, Kenya, Chad, Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire.

ARISE IIP will deploy the remaining US$ 150 million to develop an industrial park in Lilongwe, Malawi, and as trade finance for the activities of its export trading company in Malawi under Afreximbank’s Export Agriculture for Food Security initiative.

Signing the agreement on behalf of ARISE IIP was Arvind Arora, the Chief Treasury Officer, while Kanayo Awani, Executive Vice President, Intra-African Trade and Export Development, signed on behalf of Afreximbank.

Kanayo Awani, Executive Vice President, Intra-African Trade and Export Development Bank said: “The facility reflects Afreximbank’s ongoing commitment to mobilising financial and technical resources towards the promotion of industrialisation across Africa. This is our way of supporting value addition and structural transformation of African economies. We remain eager to collaborate with key stakeholders to build trusted partnerships and to industrialise African countries. Afreximbank strongly believes that IPs and SEZs are veritable tools that Africa can deploy to fast-track industrial infrastructure development and to promote intra-African trade and export development. With ARISE IIP as an established developer and operator of IPs and SEZs on the continent, we are confident that this facility will contribute to supporting the continental industrialisation agenda.” 

Arvind Arora, Chief Treasury Officer of ARISE IIP remarked: “The US$450 million facility represents a major step forward in supporting Africa’s industrialisation efforts. This financing covers critical working capital and capital expenditure needs across various countries, addressing the diverse requirements for industrial development. Africa’s infrastructure investment gap, currently exceeding US$100 billion annually, significantly impacts the continent’s living conditions and its global competitiveness. At ARISE IIP, we are committed to working with strategic partners around the world to bridge this gap and accelerate industrialisation across the continent.” 

The development of the new IPs and SEZs, along with the expansion of activities in the existing IPs, is expected to result in the attraction of 230 tenants, bringing in an estimated investment of US$ 1.7 billion over the next five years, while total exports from the new IPs and SEZs, once in operation, would reach US$ 5 billion over the five-year period, with domestically-sourced goods and services reaching US$ 3.4 billion.

In addition, the new investments in the IPs and SEZs are expected to contribute to the creation of 32,000 direct jobs and 138,000 in-direct jobs.

Afreximbank has been working with ARISE IIP as a strategic partner, focusing on industrialisation initiatives across Africa. The collaboration has seen the Bank and Arise working together on various projects including a USD 5 Billion Africa Textile Renaissance Plan, which intends to create 500,000 MT of African cotton transformation capacity and 500,000 jobs.

The Fund for Export Development in Africa (FEDA), Afreximbank’s development impact investment arm, invested USD 300 million in the latest fundraising round, which concluded in October 2024. During this round, Arise IIP raised a total of USD 443 million.