The Pan African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) which was launched to make cross-border transactions seamless, is set to capture more markets in Africa.

The plan was disclosed last week by the Chief Executive Officer of PAPSS, Mr. Mike Ogbalu, during a stakeholders’ forum held in Lagos.

Ogbolu, who was represented, said Fintech across the continent of Africa can operate more seamlessly and widely with the assistance of PAPSS.

According to him, “Currently, there are numerous impediments and challenges facing intra-African trade payments. Banks must navigate sometimes conflicting local, multi-country and multiregional regulations to enable the seamless movement of funds on behalf of their diverse customers across the continent. Operational inefficiencies and onerous compliance requirements are time-consuming impediments.”

In his opening remarks, Mr. Patrick Akinwunta, Ex Ecobank Group Managing Director & Regional Executive at Ecobank Nigeria, said banks, their customers and anyone or business involved in financial transactions across the continent of Africa stand to benefit massively from the PAPSS system.

“The essence of PAPSS is to help in cross-border financial settlement with ease, speed and precision. It is a practical process of instant delivery and a major aggregator that brings everybody together. We all need a connecting point; and PAPSS is the big umbrella.

As a centralized Financial Market Infrastructure that enables the efficient flow of money securely across African borders, minimizing risk and contributing to financial integration across the regions, PAPSS works in collaboration with Africa’s central banks to provide a payment and settlement service to which commercial banks and licensed payment service providers across the region can connect as ‘Participants’.

In his presentation, Mr. Osita Ugwu, Chief Technology Officer at PAPSS, disclosed that 60 banks have already gone live on PAPSS platform, while another 60 are doing integration.

According to him, “By year end, we are expecting 23 banks to be integrated. As of today, 60 banks are doing integration and another 60 banks are going live.

Since its launch by the African Union and the Afreximbank in 2022, several commercial banks have been onboarded on its system.

PAPSS is a pan-African payment system facilitating instant cross-border payments in local African currencies. It is a centralised platform that connects central banks, commercial banks, and other financial institutions across the continent.

The platform was launched in January 2022 by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the African Union (AU). At launch, it was sold as a system that could reduce the cost and time of cross-border payments in Africa and boost intra-African trade. It has partnered with over 25 commercial banks since its launch and helps accelerate payment processing as a real-time gross settlement system.

The system also boosts security compared to the current correspondent banking system, as it operates on a centralised platform governed by the AU and Afreximbank.

At the event, PAPSS introduced a new settlement model called the Commercial Bank Settlement Model (CBSM), which allows commercial banks to open and fund their settlement accounts at Afreximbank and manage their liquidity as per their banking requirements.

For the year ended December 31, 2023, FCMB Group Plc grew deposits, loans, assets under management, revenue and earnings and improved its environmental, social, and corporate governance scorecard. The Group recorded a profit before tax of ₦104.4 billion, a 186% year-on-year (YoY) increase compared to ₦36.6 billion in 2022 and earnings growth across its business segments: Banking Group 212.6%, Consumer Finance 67.3%, Investment Management 40%, and Investment Banking 89.7%.

FCMB Group, which proposed a dividend of 50 kobo per share for its shareholders, contributed to food security and import substitution in Nigeria by increasing lending to the agricultural sector by 38.4% from N147.4 billion in 2022 to N204.3 billion in 2023. In addition, the Bank supported over 300,000 smallholder farmers, 56% of whom were women in agriculture, in rural communities to support the sector. Over $280 million of funding from DFI’s and donor agencies was raised during the year to support the attainment of sustainable development goals in critical sectors of the economy.

Leveraging its core banking business, the Group facilitated over $700 million and $100 million in export and remittance flows into Nigeria, respectively, as at December 2023.

In safeguarding the environment, it switched six additional branches of its retail and commercial banking subsidiary (First City Monument Bank Limited) from grid/diesel generators to solar power last year, taking the number of branches running on renewable energy to 160, which represents 78% of total branches.

In addition, the Bank secured funding of up to N13 billion from local development finance institutions for on-lending to customers requiring solar energy solutions to further support its commitment to driving renewable energy.

FCMB’s customer base grew by 15.6% YoY from 10.9 million to 12.5 million for the period ended December 2023, whilst users of its mobile app that offers lending, wealth and payment solutions grew by 31% YoY to 3.4 million. Similarly, the Bank’s agency banking network grew to over 164,000 agents. With an enlarged customer base, an expanded distribution platform, and the use of artificial intelligence to automate and optimise loan underwriting processes, the Group successfully disbursed over 1.5 million loans worth N100.8 billion to individuals, N14.4 billion to micro-enterprises and N177.9 billion to SMEs during the period.

Commenting on the results, the Group Chief Executive of FCMB Group Plc, Mr Ladi Balogun, said: “We continue to leverage our unique Group structure to build a technology-driven ecosystem that is fostering inclusive and sustainable growth in the communities we serve.

“This strategy is enabling us to deliver robust performance in spite of the challenging domestic and global environment. Barring unforeseen circumstances, we believe this trend will be sustained and accompanied by improving efficiencies arising from greater scale and ongoing digitisation”.

The results across market fundamentals also showed gross revenue of N516.4 billion for the period ended December 2023, an 82.5% growth from N283 billion for the same period the prior year. Net interest income grew by 44.8% from N122 billion in 2022 to N176.6 billion in 2023. Customer confidence in FCMB remained strong, as deposits rose by 58.5% YoY from N1.94 trillion to N3.08 trillion, just as loans and advances grew by 54% from N1.20 trillion to N1.84 trillion. The Group’s total assets increased by 48.3% from N2.98 trillion to N4.42 trillion at the end of December 2023.

FCMB Group’s Assets Under Management increased by 29.6% last year from N783.7 billion to N1.02 trillion. The value of investment banking transactions consummated by the Group rose to N945.3 billion for the period ended December 2023, compared to N857.1 billion in the same period the prior year.

FCMB Group, a financial services holding company headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria, and listed on the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX), has strategic interests in companies serving over 12.5 million customers across five key platforms: banking, consumer finance, investment management, investment banking, and financial technology. The Group and its subsidiaries are building an ecosystem that promotes inclusive and sustainable growth in their communities, primarily in Africa, its diaspora, and the United Kingdom, by connecting people, capital, and markets.

Moniepoint Microfinance Bank, Nigeria’s leading digital financial services provider and definitive bank for businesses, has been honored with the prestigious Best Hospitality Industry Support – Fintech Award at the 2024 Hotel Industry Excellence and Sustainability Award (HIESA). This recognition underscores Moniepoint’s commitment to empowering businesses within the hospitality industry through innovative financial solutions.

L – R Chibuikem Diala, Executive Director, International Hospitality Tourism and Eco-Sustainability Forum; Ekene Nnabuihe, Chief Executive Officer, Boulevard Hotel; Isoken Aigbomian, Regional Sales Manager, Enterprise Sales, Moniepoint and Bemigho Awala, Public Relations Manager, Moniepoint during Moniepoint’s award win as Best Hospitality Industry Support – Fintech Award at the HIESA awards ceremony which held at the Ladi Kwali Hall, Abuja Continental Hotel.

As a major artery in Nigeria’s booming hospitality sector, Moniepoint provides a range of digital financial services that streamline financial operations, improve guest experiences with digital payment and contribute to the overall growth and sustainability of the industry.

The tourism and hospitality sector in Nigeria holds significant economic importance as it contributes in part to the country’s GDP and stimulates economic growth via improved revenue generation, attracting FDIs, job creation, cultural preservation and sustainable development. It will be recalled that consulting giants, PWC had forecast that Nigeria will experience a robust growth of 12% in Nigeria’s hospitality industry.

Speaking on the rationale for Moniepoint’s award, Chibuikem Diala, Executive Director, IHTEF, noted that Moniepoint has become a symbol of innovation, dedication and a testament to the resilience, expertise, partnership that is inherent in developing homegrown brands for the good of the hospitality sector in Nigeria.

“Moniepoint has been chosen by industry leaders because of its innovative contributions towards seamless financial transactions in the hospitality industry. It is worthy of note that Moniepoint as a financial technology brand with inventive solutions have helped to revolutionize financial services in hotels, restaurants, lounges, etc, and for small businesses especially those within the hospitality, fast foods, travel and tourism ecosystem in Nigeria who now experience very minimal processor failure disputes, considerably reduced downtime and track-able transactions, thereby providing effective tools to run hospitality businesses with ease, uncommon simplicity, security and profitability,” he said.

Commenting on the award, Babatunde Olofin, Moniepoint MFB’s Managing Director, expressed delight while noting that “we are honored to receive this award from HIESA which is an eloquent testimonial to the collaborative work that we do at Moniepoint. We believe that a thriving hospitality industry is essential for Nigeria and we remain committed to fostering a thriving ecosystem through continued innovation. Our customers remain at the centre of our universe and we’ll continue to ensure that we power their dreams in more ways so that they can experience financial happiness.”

The HIESA is a highly respected award program that acknowledges the exceptional efforts of organizations and individuals propelling the hospitality and tourism sector forward. By recognizing excellence in areas like leadership, innovation, and service quality, HIESA paves the way for a more robust and sustainable industry.

The awards ceremony was organized as part of the 7th edition of International Hospitality Tourism and Eco-Sustainability Forum (IHTEF) held at the Ladi Kwali Hall, Abuja Continental Hotel on April 25th, 2024. The IHTEF is a hospitality focused intellectual marketplace, a ‘platform of minds’ that brings together thought leaders, influential government figures, project developers, hotel managers, visionaries, investors, hotel owners, consumers and sustainability enthusiasts. With the theme, “Emerge Together; Reimagining a Green Hospitality Economy”, the forum examined how hospitality businesses should conduct themselves in the light of the emerging green economy while x-raying the intersections between hospitality circular economy, effective resource maximization, and quality skills and standards needed for a new hospitality economy.

Some of the guests at the ceremony included the Honourable Minister for Tourism, Mrs Lola Ade-John (Special Guest of Honour), other industry leaders include IHTEF Africa’s conference advisor, Mr Trevor Ward of W Hospitality Group, Turkey, Director Lodging & Development, Marriott West Africa; Mr Adedayo Adesugba, Vice Chair, Association of Tourism and Hospitality Consultants of Nigeria (ATHCON); Mrs. Oluwasoromidayo George, Director Corporate Affair & Sustainable Business, Nigeria Bottling Company  Mr Ekene Nnabuihe, CEO Boulevard Hotel Group; Dewald Kruger, The Envoy Abuja; Mrs Kehinde Daniel, Kots Catering; Ms Idy Ekwo, Hospitality Connect, Worldwide; Alain Salameh, General Manager, Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham; and Toni Cheikwafah of Beer Barn.

In recognition of the bank’s strategic importance to Nigeria’s financial services sector, Moniepoint MFB has received several accolades including the prestigious Rising Star Family Business Award Pwc/Businessday Family Business Summit; Fintech Company of the Year award at the 16th edition of Leadership Newspapers Conference and Awards, the Most Outstanding Microfinance Bank in Consumer Engagement at the Brandcom Awards, NITDA’s Digital Nigeria 2023 winner for the Fintech Category. Moniepoint Inc was listed for the second year running amongst the 100 most promising private fintech companies by CB Insights and the reputable Financial Times named it Africa’s second fastest-growing company. Moniepoint Inc also received critical acclaim as the “Most Outstanding Fintech Company in Financial Inclusion at the Brandcom Awards. Group CEO, Moniepoint Inc, Tosin Eniolorunda was named the 2024 Legit Business Leaders Awards in recognition of his outstanding contributions to Nigeria’s economy.

Moniepoint’s win at the 2024 HIESA signifies its unwavering commitment to playing a vital role in the Nigerian hospitality industry’s success story. The company looks forward to building on its achievements and amplifying its positive impact in the years to come.