Africa’s integration moment: Can payments, markets and currencies converge?

For more than a decade, the idea of a truly integrated African market has hovered somewhere between political aspiration and economic inevitability.

With the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) now in force, and continental infrastructure such as the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) and the African Exchanges Linkage Project (AELP) in place, the question confronting Africa’s financial industry is no longer whether integration is possible – but whether the regulatory and market landscape can adapt quickly enough to unlock its potential.