Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB), which now operates in many African countries including Uganda, has signed an Africa-wide deal to facilitate settlements of cross-border monetary transactions, which will greatly boost trade between African countries.

“The agreement brings on board payments and collecting expertise spanning more than 120 years,” said KCG Group CEO Paul Russo. “Rest assured to have speed, affordability, reliability and boost in Africa to Africa trade.”

The agreement was signed early this week with the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) in Accra in Ghana during the Afrexim Bank Annual Meeting. This makes KCB the pioneer institution in East Africa to bring on board the financial market infrastructure that provides a secure and efficient channel for processing cross-border payments.

“This implies that our customers will have access to vast economic opportunities that will deliver multiple advantages and efficiencies especially when conducting Intra-African trade payments,” Russo explained. “The platform is a centralized Financial Market Infrastructure which was developed in collaboration with the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) to complement trading under the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).”

It brings on board an alternative to the current high-cost and bureaucratic banking transactions. It is expected to ease trade and other economic activities among African countries through a simple, low-cost risk-controlled payment clearing and settlement system.

 “As a Pan-African banking institution, we desire to play a bigger role in facilitating trade across Africa and beyond. With such partnerships, we shall be able to settle our transactions including those for all its subsidiaries and other commercial banks without many hurdles.” summed up Russo.

The new platform is destined to deliver multiple advantages and efficiencies to sluggish intra-African trade payments and time-consuming.