Dr Alayande Folarin, the Vice President of MasterCard, has emphasized the importance of the Pan African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), noting that it will enhance interconnection to all the Central Banks and Afrexim bank.

According to the Vice President of Mastercard, the continent has sever products in the market, one or two that could perform almost similar functions except that they do not have a connection to the central bank.

“For those who are familiar with the PAPSS, we know that there are existing mechanisms for similar settlements even though they are not connected to the Central Banks.”
Dr Alayande Folarin

What AU, Afrexim bank, Central Bank, and PAPSS Doing Uniquely

Dr Folatin asserted that what the AU, Afrexim bank, Central Bank, and PAPSS are doing uniquely is to provide the connection to the central bank in order to provide that instant net settlement as the case may be.

“Today, MasterCard has what we call the ‘MasterCard send’ and a ‘MasterCard home send’ that are built on the same logic. So, you can do your instant payment or peer-to-peer to any debit card or personal account to any digital wallet.”
Dr Alayande Folarin

Dr Folatin indicated that connecting to PAPSS was not a problem as they were already doing what PAPSS will be doing differently .

“They are now trying to move on so that all the other central banks can connect. So connecting to PAPSS is going to be quite frankly, plug and play. We look forward to PAPSS.”
Dr Alayande Folarin

The Vice President stated that it is important to note that the concept of PAPSS is intra-African trade. He added that PAPSS is working with the African Union, Afrexim Bank, and Central Banks.

“The bigger question is that even if we have full control of all intra-African payments and settlements, because that proportion is still low, we will still be vulnerable in a way if there is a disruption in the global settlement.

“So the bigger challenge for the African Union, for African countries, and African payments is our patterns of trade because even if we increase total intra-African trade to about 30%-40%, about 60% would still be vulnerable to external shocks.”
Dr Alayande Folarin

Nonetheless, the Veep said it is a good start to achieve full interoperability to pay and settle all intra-African trade transactions and minimise the use of non-African currencies. “Once that is done, it will be easier for Africa to move closer to a common currency. Africa would still be as successful as the volume of trade we do within ourselves.”

“What you call payment has two siblings, one of them is authentication or identification and the other is cyber security and intelligence.”
Dr Alayande Folarin

Dr Folatin averred that being a technology company, there are areas where MasterCard works with all the players in financial industry and it is important to continue to drive towards financial inclusion, whether through mobile technologies or any other platforms. He said they are leading with cyber security or intelligence technologies, with preventive technologies to ensure they are beating intruders because the reality is why they are developing payment systems.

“This is why it is important to have MasterCard in the room to ensure that we can assist with not only preventive authentication but also cyber security and intelligence across the whole value chain. Feel free to speak to us and we can assist you with your inclusion technologies.”
Dr Alayande Folarin