Access Bank and United Bank for Africa (UBA) in Accra Ghana, signed an agreement with the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) to eliminate trade barriers.
The annual meetings of the African Export-Import Bank
(Afreximbank), also featured the signing of Memorandum of Agreement (MOUs)
between Pan African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) and leading African
Group Banks to accelerate the implementation of PAPSS across the continent.
UBA signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with a portfolio
of $ 6 billion, in Accra Ghana, targeting Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
(MSME).
According to UBA, the sectors to benefit from the
unprecedented all-around support and trade facilitation are Pharmaceuticals,
Automobiles, Transport and logistics, Agriculture and agro-processing.
Speaking with journalists immediately after the signing,
Victor Etuokwu, deputy managing director, retail North, Access Bank said, “The
agreement we signed today was the AfCFTA, you know, the continent is putting
together a payment infrastructure to mobilise resources to drive inter-African
trade.
He said together with that transaction is the PAPSS
agreement, a cross-border financial infrastructure set up to facilitate payment
across the continent.“
Etuokwu said Access Bank has traders, businesses, and SMEs
in every country of the continent, trading with their counterparts in other
parts of the continent and that PAPSS provides a platform where payment can be
done without the need for the dollar as a currency that enables payment.
Other agreements signed in Accra include an accession deed
to the partnership agreement between Afreximbank and the Government of
Barbados, MOU between Grand Bahama and Afreximbank, a MOU between the
Government of Malawi (Ministry of Finance) and Afreximbank, a Collaboration
Agreement between the Government of Malawi and Arise IIP, $400 million global
facility term sheet between Arise IIP and the Bank, USD 1 million Ghana Railway
Company Limited PPF Head of Terms and Ghana Railway Company Limited Mandate
Letter, and US$2 million UTM Offshore Limited APPF Facility Agreement.
In April 2023, PAPSS and the African Stock Exchanges
Association (ASEA) signed a MoU to enhance collaboration and cooperation in
promoting cross-border payments of Capital Markets infrastructure in Africa.
Benedict Oramah, President and Chairman of the Board of
Directors of Afreximbank, in his remarks, during the launch of PAPSS in January
2022 in Accra, said, “We are eager to build upon the African Continental Free
Trade Area’s creation of a single market throughout Africa, and PAPSS provides
the state-of-the-art financial market infrastructure connecting African markets
to each other thereby enabling instant cross-border payments in respective
local African currencies for cross-border trade.
Afreximbank as the main Settlement Agent for PAPSS, provides
settlement guarantees on the payment system and overdraft facilities to all
settlement agents, in partnership with Africa’s participating Central Banks.
PAPSS will effectively eliminate Africa’s financial borders, formalise and
integrate Africa’s payment systems, and play a major role in facilitating and
accelerating the huge AfCFTA-induced growth curve in intra-African trade.”
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