This innovation revolutionalizes the way Ghanaian individuals and businesses trade with the rest of Africa. GCB is committed to providing innovative and efficient banking solutions to its customers and remains at the forefront of introducing solutions such as the telco-agnostic e-wallet, e-payments, and cashless banking to the market.

The PAPSS platform is expected to bring several benefits to GCB’s customers as individuals and businesses will now have access to cheaper, faster turnaround, traceable and transparent cross-border payments. This development is also a major step in operationalizing the AfCFTA objectives.

Mr. Kofi Adomakoh, MD of GCB, said:

“GCB is excited about this feat, being the first on an innovative and leading-edge technology platform. We believe in PAPSS  as a key driver in the AfCFTA agenda and the potential it has to transform the way our customers trade across the continent. We at GCB are very confident this will transform the payment ecosystem and facilitate trade among African countries.

We would like to express our profound gratitude to the Bank of Ghana and Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GHIPSS) for the regulatory framework and immense support in operationalizing this platform. We could not have achieved this without your continuous commitment to improving the payment system in Ghana. To Afrieximbank, and the PAPSS Team based out of Cairo, we say Ayekoo for making the AfCFTA dream a reality. 

To our valued customers, we say thank you for coming on this journey with us. At the heart of the deployment of this innovative solution is our unrelentless quest to leverage technology and partnerships to deliver enhanced customer experience. This solution provides you with a more secure, convenient, transparent and cheaper way of making and receiving payments across Africa.

I invite you all to join us in welcoming this exciting new chapter in our digital journey. Let’s embrace this payment solution  and capture the enormous Pan-African opportunities it brings to drive growth, innovation and superior customer experience.”

Mike Ogbalu III, CEO of PAPSS said:

“GCB’s adoption of PAPSS is one of the fastest in Ghana, as the bank has not only been the first to complete the technical integration to our system but has also been the first to complete customer transactions. This is a major milestone, as it now allows their customers to commence real-time cross-border payments in local currency.

This milestone couldn’t be possible without the commitment and unbeatable support of the Bank of Ghana (BOG) as well as the National Switch namely the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS). Therefore, I would like to commend BOG, GhIPSS and GCB for all the efforts put together to ensure the smooth operationalization of PAPSS in Ghana.”

About GCB

GCB Bank PLC is Ghana’s first and largest indigenous bank with the vision to be the leading Bank in all our markets and a mission to provide first-class banking solutions for customers and value for all stakeholders. Established in 1953 and listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange since 1996, GCB acquired selected assets and liabilities of two indigenous banks in 2017 and expanded its branch and ATM networks to over 185 and 340 respectively.

GCB was recently rated Ghana’s safest Bank by Moody’s, Fitch, Standard & Poor’s and the most compliant Bank in Africa by the Association for Certified Compliance Professionals in Africa (AC-CPA). The Bank is currently ranked 1st in the banking sector category and 10th in the list of 100 most prestigious companies in Ghana.

In 2020, GCB became the first Bank to launch a digital mobile money wallet when it launched G-Money The telco-agnostic and fully interoperable digital wallet allows customers to send and receive funds from any mobile money wallet or bank accounts and also performs unique functions including borrowing and savings. G-Money has evolved into GCB’s digital financial services subsidiary.

GCB is at the forefront of investment banking in Ghana with a fully incorporated subsidiary, GCB Capital Limited, dedicated to undertake investment banking business including Debt Capital Market transactions.

GCB aspires to be the dominant player in Ghana’s banking industry.

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”) launched the 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 December 5, 2020, the assembly of the 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.

For more information, visit: www.papss.com

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Media Contact: Papa Samba Thiongane - communications@papss.com