Ethiopia’s accession to the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) opens the door for the country’s domestic financial institutions to plug into a continental payments network, with direct implications for how cross-border trade in local currencies is financed and settled across Africa. The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) and PAPSS confirmed the move, timed alongside news that Addis Ababa will host the second edition of Africa’s payments conference on November 26 and 27.
For the country’s banks and financial operators, membership is the first step rather than the finish line. Actual operational access will depend on implementation by the institutions themselves, meaning the commercial payoff hinges on how quickly and thoroughly domestic players build the connections needed to transact with participating institutions across the continent.
The announcement came jointly from NBE Governor Eyob Tekalign and PAPSS Chief Executive Mike Ogbalu III at a press conference on the sidelines of the Ethiopia Finance Forum in Addis Ababa. Their joint appearance underscored the institutional weight behind the accession: PAPSS was established under the auspices of Afreximbank, the African Union Commission and the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat, a backing structure that signals serious development capital and policy commitment behind the settlement infrastructure.
The system’s core commercial proposition is to support cross-border payments in local currencies, reducing friction in intra-African trade and, in principle, lowering the cost and complexity that have historically weighed on payments between African markets. For Ethiopia, joining means its financial institutions can begin facilitating payments with counterparts across the network, a potential boost to trade flows and to the competitiveness of domestic operators in regional markets.
The timing is no accident. Addis Ababa is set to host COWRY 2026, Africa’s Payments Conference, at the Ethiopian Skylight Hotel, under the theme “Scaling Africa’s Sovereign Payments: From Continental Connectivity to Global Integration.” Organisers expect more than 1,000 participants drawn from banking, fintech, payments, regulation and technology, a gathering that doubles as a marketplace of ideas and dealmaking for the continent’s financial infrastructure.
The conference agenda points to where the money and attention are heading: cross-border payment connectivity and the integration of African financial infrastructure with global markets. For investors and operators watching the space, Ethiopia’s accession to PAPSS, announced just ahead of the event, frames the country as an active participant in that build-out rather than a bystander.
Further details of the announcement and the run-up to the conference are covered at https://techafricanews.com/2026/10/16/ethiopia-joins-papss-ahead-of-africas-payments-conference-in-addis-ababa/
The combination of a national central bank committing to the network and a major industry convening on home soil gives Ethiopia a visible platform in the continent’s payments landscape. Whether the accession translates into sustained transaction volumes will rest with the domestic institutions now tasked with turning membership into operational reality.