No Dollar Payment System to Save Africa $5 Billion, Lender Says
- Commercial, central banks are signing on to AfCFTA system
- System can formalize about $50 billion of trade, Macaulay says
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A payment system that removes the dollar from cross-border African transactions could save the continent up to $5 billion in processing costs, says the head of business and commercial banking for the Africa and offshore regions at the continent’s biggest bank.
Having to clear transactions through US or European banks burdens African businesses with delays and expenses, said Tunde Macaulay of Standard Bank Group Ltd. A unified payment system under the new African Continental Free Trade Area pact looks set to improve this, according to the banker who has worked across the continent for 25 years.