A report by the AfricaNenda Foundation, an organisation that promotes instant payment systems across Africa, shows that the continent currently has 36 IPS platforms operating in 31 African countries.

The report indicates that total transaction volumes increased by an average annual growth rate of 35%, reaching over 64 billion transactions in 2024. Total transaction values increased by an average annual rate of 26% from $775.5 billion in 2020 to $1.98 trillion in 2024.

The rise of digital payments in Africa

Instant Payment Systems (IPS) are among the innovations introduced across Africa to make financial services easier and more accessible. Previously, making payments, depositing money, or withdrawing cash often required physical visits to banks or financial institutions.

This process was time-consuming and inconvenient. However, as technology advanced, financial institutions introduced various digital solutions for transferring money.

This led to the growth Mobile Money services, Mobile banking applications, USSD-based financial services, all of which have made it easier for people to send and receive money.

However, while these solutions reduced the need for frequent trips to financial institutions, they also created another challenge: the emergence of multiple payment systems operated separately by different financial institutions.

To address this challenge, banks, telecommunications companies, and other financial service providers began working together to enable interoperability, allowing customers to transfer money between different banks and mobile money platforms.

The Deputy Chief Executive Officer of AfricaNenda Foundation, Sabine F. Mensah, said Africa’s digital payment sector has reached an encouraging stage of development.

“Between 2024 and 2025, five new IPSs came live, which is the highest number of IPS in a given year since we’ve started tracking the ecosystem with the first SIPS 2022 report,” she said.

However, Mensah noted that challenges remain, with more than 400 million Africans still relying on traditional methods of transferring and payment methods.

She explained that this is mainly because some countries have not yet introduced modern payment systems, while in countries where such systems exist, many are still not fully interconnected.

“The inclusivity and interoperability journey remains a challenge. Although we already have 50% of the systems that are cross-domain, 18 out of 36, it also means that there are still 18 more that are not,” she said

“That is the reason why we are focused on driving inclusivity of this instant payment system and working with the different countries and IPSs to ensure that inclusivity is top of mind and is being developed across here in time to meet the needs of consumers and ensure that all have access to financial services through instant payment systems,” she added

Rwanda has addressed the interoperability challenge

On July 14, 2026, Rwanda rolled out eKash, a new fast and fully interoperable payment system.

eKash is a digital payment platform that connects different financial institutions, allowing customers to send and receive money and make payments between licensed financial service providers.

The system aims to make digital payments more accessible, secure, affordable, and available to everyone.

The platform has gained significant adoption. By August 6, 2026, eKash had processed more than 10.5 million transactions, with the total value exceeding Rwf 960 billion.

The number of users making payments between different financial institutions increased by 166%.

Digital payments are reducing costs and boosting economic activity

Economic analyst Teddy Kaberuka said increased adoption of digital payment services helps countries reduce the costs associated with producing and managing physical money.

“Using cash has a high cost because producing banknotes and coins is expensive. In some cases, producing money can cost up to 20% of its value. However, with digital payments, such costs are significantly reduced because fewer physical notes and coins are needed,” he said.

He added that digital payments also increase the movement of money within the economy.

“Another advantage of instant payment systems is that they increase liquidity flow. Money moves faster, economic activities continue without interruption, and more transactions can happen within a shorter period,” he explained.

Kaberuka, however, stressed that protecting users’ financial information and educating citizens about fraud prevention remain key priorities as digital payments continue to grow.

The FinScope 2024 survey showed that 96% of Rwandans have access to financial services.

Rwanda’s national digital payment system, eKash, aims to make digital payments more accessible, secure, affordable, and available to everyone.