National Bank of Ethiopia Joins Pan-African Payment and Settlement System
The central bank’s membership is intended to support cross-border payments in African currencies, but participating commercial banks and a live transaction date have not yet been announced.
ADDIS ABABA — The National Bank of Ethiopia joined the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System, PAPSS announced on Oct. 15, 2026 during the Ethiopia Finance Forum in Addis Ababa. The system is designed to support cross-border payments across Africa using participating African currencies and central-bank-backed settlement arrangements.
Membership gives Ethiopia a route into the continent’s shared payment infrastructure, potentially reducing the need for some transactions to be routed through third currencies or correspondent-bank chains. The operational benefits will depend on which Ethiopian commercial banks connect and which corridors become active.
The announcement does not identify the participating commercial banks or announce a date for live customer transactions. It should therefore be read as an institutional integration step, not proof that Ethiopian consumers and businesses can already send every cross-border payment through PAPSS.
For regional payment infrastructure, the hard part is not only joining a network. Banks need compatible systems, liquidity, foreign-exchange processes, compliance controls and customer-facing products. Ethiopia’s membership adds an important market to PAPSS, while the practical rollout remains to be detailed.