{
  "id": 3045319,
  "title": "FirstBank, PAPSS and the race to own Africa’s payment rails",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/24/firstbank-papss-and-the-race-to-own-africas-payment-rails",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-08-24T15:05:24.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Nairametrics",
    "slug": "nairametrics",
    "url": "https://nairametrics.com/2026/08/24/firstbank-papss-and-the-race-to-own-africas-payment-rails/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "The Pan African Payment Settlement System (PAPSS) aims to revolutionize cross-border payments in Africa by providing a real-time, centralized financial market infrastructure that enables seamless transfers between African countries in local currencies. Launched in January 2022 by Afreximbank and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), PAPSS is set to transform Africa's payment landscape by reducing costs, simplifying transactions, and improving payment speed. Nigeria's leading financial institution, FirstBank, has integrated PAPSS into its LIT App, FirstMobile, and FirstOnline, allowing customers to make instant, secure, cross-border payments across Africa with greater ease and convenience.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}