By 2035, Africa’s cross-border payments market will be worth $1 trillion as revealed by Oui Capital in its latest report, but the road to that achievement is anything but smooth.
In 2025 alone, the market is already valued at $329 billion, with transaction inefficiencies costing up to $5 billion each year. As someone tracking this space closely, I can say there’s a good promise, but so are the fractures beneath the surface.
At the centre of this growth are two facts, first, mobile money in sub-Saharan Africa handled 30% of all remittances in 2022, worth $16 billion. Second, Africa processed 66% of all global mobile money transactions that same year.
Fintechs have stepped into a market largely abandoned by traditional banks and burdened by high remittance fees, fragmented regulations, and unreliable forex infrastructure.
Formal remittance inflows to Africa hit $90.2 billion in 2023, almost double what the continent received in foreign aid. However, informal flows are still a huge blind spot.
Between 35% and 75% of total remittances go unrecorded, meaning the real market size is likely far larger than official figures reveal. The reliance on informal channels isn’t by choice, it’s driven by survival.
Formal fees average 7.4%, while digital solutions can slash that to between 1.5% and 3%. When fees mean the difference between buying medicine or going without, the decision is simple.
The migration from traditional to digital is happening, but not fast enough. Transaction times remain slow. Banks still dominate high-value payments, with settlement windows stretching from one to five days.
In contrast, blockchain-enabled platforms can finalise transfers within seconds, at a fraction of the cost. Even companies like Wise are delivering same-day transactions, using pooled liquidity to avoid FX markups entirely.
A blockchain transfer could cost under $10, while a $5 million bank transaction might rack up $150,000 in fees and take days to complete.
The Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), launched in 2022, was supposed to change that. It enables local currency transactions across borders, cutting the need for dollars or euros.
According to the report, PAPSS could save the continent $5 billion annually. But, its adoption has been slow, hindered by liquidity constraints and regulatory hesitation.
And this is beyond a problem of cost or technology, it’s human. In West Africa, informal traders move billions in goods across borders. Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso alone channelled $1.5 billion in informal remittances.
These traders use whatever means are available, from mobile money to couriers, to settle their accounts. In Southern Africa, migrants working in mines and households in South Africa sent $17 billion back home in 2022.
Zimbabwe received $1.9 billion from South Africa alone. But they paid a steep price, 12% to 15% in transaction fees, often through risky and unregulated routes.
Meanwhile, East Africa leads in mobile money adoption, with 60% of remittances already going digital. Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda benefit from platforms like M-Pesa and MTN MoMo, slashing fees and boosting access.
In Central Africa, however, 70% of transactions are still informal, and financial infrastructure remains scarce. In North Africa, formal banking dominates but faces pressure from crypto-backed options and Middle East-driven remittance flows.
Even as fintechs like Chipper Cash, Flutterwave, and Afriex challenge the incumbents, they’re running into their own set of walls. Regulatory fragmentation, licensing bottlenecks, and lack of interoperability are real threats.
Many African countries still don’t allow full electronic KYC, forcing users to redo verification across platforms. Forex policies in places like Nigeria make it nearly impossible to predict costs. Liquidity shortages force businesses to clear transactions offshore, adding further layers of expense.
Despite these obstacles, digital innovation is saving African families between $4 and $6 billion annually. And the potential is far greater. If mobile money networks across Africa could integrate seamlessly, another $5 billion in savings could be unlocked. Blockchain could cut transaction costs by 99% and bring settlement times down to seconds.
“The most successful companies will efficiently scale, adeptly navigate regulatory frameworks, and provide seamless, affordable transaction services.” Companies in this sector are not limiting themselves to just innovation, but strategy, partnerships, and policy alignment.
Here’s where we stand: the fate of Africa’s cross-border payments is digital, decentralised, and mobile-first. But that future won’t arrive by accident.
It will require regulators to harmonise policies, fintechs to prioritise infrastructure and liquidity, and investors to see past short-term profits into long-term system-wide gains.
In our continent, $200 can mean a life changed, or a future secured, every transaction matters. But we’ve got a long way to go.
