Latest news with #paymentsovereignty
Khaleej Times
30-06-2025
- Business
- Khaleej Times
PAPSS and Mercury unveil PAPSSCARD to drive Africa's financial integration
In a landmark move to strengthen financial inclusion and payment sovereignty across Africa, the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) and Mercury Payment Services have officially launched PAPSSCARD during the 32nd Afreximbank Annual Meetings in Abuja. The launch ceremony was presided over by Professor Benedict Oramah, president and chairman of the board of directors of Afreximbank, alongside Mike Ogbalu III, CEO of PAPSS, and Mercury's executive chairman Muzaffar Khokhar and CEO Muzaffer Hamid. The event welcomed esteemed dignitaries, including current and former African and Caribbean heads of state, Central Bank Governors, Afreximbank executives, and representatives from the AfCFTA Secretariat. PAPSSCARD is a pioneering joint venture between PAPSS, an initiative spearheaded by Afreximbank, and Mercury, a leading payment technology provider in the Middle East and Africa. The card serves as a continental card scheme and switch, designed to connect national payment switches across Africa. It aims to deliver a Pan-African interoperable payment solution with broad regional and global acceptance, enabling domestic payment schemes across the continent to thrive under a unified brand. Speaking at the launch, Khokhar said: "We are honoured to collaborate with PAPSS on this transformative initiative. At Mercury, we are working closely with Central Banks and national payment utilities to build infrastructure that empowers regional economies. We're confident that PAPSSCARD will soon become the most trusted and loved African payments brand." Mike Ogbalu III, CEO of PAPSS, emphasised the significance of the partnership: "This launch represents a defining moment in Africa's pursuit of financial independence. PAPSSCARD is more than just a card—it is a strategic tool within the PAPSS ecosystem to facilitate seamless, secure, and cost-effective cross-border payments. This innovation stands as a testament to what African collaboration can achieve." Hamid added: "PAPSSCARD signifies a bold leap forward for Africa's payments infrastructure. Our goal is to establish an independent, efficient, and secure payment network that supports each nation's ecosystem while fostering trust, reliability, and regional growth." Headquartered in the UAE, Mercury is a multifaceted fintech firm providing cutting-edge payment infrastructure and services to Central Banks and national payment systems. Its proprietary 'Scheme In a Box' platform streamlines the development and deployment of modern payment schemes across emerging markets.
Finextra
03-06-2025
- Business
- Finextra
European Card Payment Asociation calls for EU payments sovereignty
The European Card Payment Association (EPCA) has called for a strong stance on payments soveriegnty across the bloc amid ongoing geo-political turmoil and fall out from Trump tarrifs. 2 The EPCA has released a white paper which shows that in 2024 there were over 263 million European Card Scheme (ECS) payment cards in circulation, which made 31.5 billion transactions last year alone. However, the payments space is dominated by Visa and Mastercard, who between them process 65% of euro area card payments, while US tech giants such as Apple, Google and PayPal are also gaining popularity. The EPCA's paper explores the urgent need to protect the sovereignty over payment infrastructure in Europe offered by ECSs, amid challenges such as the current American administration's increasingly isolationist approach or unpredictable geopolitical events such as the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. The strategy calls for the development of a comprehensive payments and industrial policy that ensures at least one EU-based payment method is always available to European consumers and businesses alongside the continued development and widespread adoption of European open standards, such as CPACE. This should be coupled with regulatory measures that focus on ensuring a level playing field between ECS and global players as well as mechanisms to facilitate infrastructure sharing and cross-border acceptance agreements between European stakeholders. The white paper's conclusions align with the European Commission's focus on strategic autonomy in payments. It launches as Christine Lagarde,pPresident of the European Central Bank, called in April for a 'march towards independence' from international payment platforms. It's a message backed by the bank-backed European Payments Initiative, which in April called on local European digital payment networks to co-operate in building a shared merchant acceptance infrastructure, ensuring interoperability, scalability, and cross-border functionality Juan Carlos Martín, chairman, ECPA, comments: 'To safeguard Europe's financial future, resilience and autonomy, particularly at a time when economic relationships between nations can quickly sour, it is of the utmost importance that the sovereignty and cooperation unique to Europe's card schemes is enthusiastically supported by all stakeholders. "Control over payment infrastructure is inseparable from true economic sovereignty, and financial and regulatory institutions across the continent must prioritise collaboration that achieves this for the entire European continent.'
