With African countries placing greater emphasis on trade, ecommerce and financial inclusion, attention is increasingly shifting towards the unseen systems quietly powering economic activity behind the scenes. Behind every payment, remittance and cross-border transaction is infrastructure that determines how easily people, businesses and economies can connect.
Shared, trusted payments infrastructure is becoming an important foundation for the continent’s digital future.
“Africa’s future will increasingly depend on the infrastructure that connects its people, businesses and communities,” says Meera Sunker, head of TCIB at PayInc.
One example is South Africa’s Transactions Cleared on an Immediate Basis (TCIB) platform, which is helping modernise how money moves across the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and beyond.
Building the rails for regional connectivity
Developed as a low-value, real-time cross-border payments scheme, TCIB enables participating banks and regulated payment service providers to process payments across multiple countries and currencies through a single interoperable framework.
Processing over a million transactions to date, the platform currently supports payment corridors across South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Eswatini, Lesotho and Namibia, with further expansion underway as regional integration efforts continue to gain momentum.
More broadly, TCIB reflects a shift towards shared infrastructure designed to support wider economic participation rather than fragmented systems.
The approach aligns closely with PayInc’s broader National Payments Utility (NPU) vision, positioning payments infrastructure as a shared utility that supports economic progress and inclusion. By reducing fragmentation across regional payment ecosystems, interoperable platforms such as TCIB can improve efficiency, accessibility and trust at scale.
Making cross-border payments work better
The impact of faster and more interoperable payments is becoming increasingly visible in everyday economic activity.
From informal traders buying goods across borders, to businesses managing regional supply chains, to families sending money home, the ability to move funds quickly, securely and affordably is becoming more important than ever.
“Payments infrastructure is no longer simply an invisible function operating in the background,” says Sunker.
“It is becoming part of the critical infrastructure that supports participation in modern economies. As the region becomes more connected digitally, we need systems that are designed to connect people, businesses and countries more seamlessly.”
For businesses, faster cross-border payments can improve cash flow and simplify trade. For consumers, they can make remittances quicker, more affordable and more reliable.
For communities that still rely heavily on cash and informal channels, accessible digital payment infrastructure also creates opportunities for safer and more transparent financial flows and participation.
Driving financial inclusion through inclusive access
Momentum around financial inclusion across the region continues to strengthen.
At the recent 10th SADC Financial Inclusion Forum, it was announced that approximately 78% of adults across the region were financially included, up from 60% in 2016. The forum reinforced the importance of treating financial inclusion as a development priority linked to economic growth, poverty reduction and regional integration.
According to Sunker, infrastructure will play an important role in sustaining that momentum.
“Financial inclusion becomes more meaningful when people can actively participate in the economy through infrastructure that works for them,” she says.
“That could mean a trader receiving payment instantly across borders, a family accessing remittances faster or a small business improving cash flow through real-time settlement.”
A shared future requires shared infrastructure
Sunker says long-term regional connectivity will depend on collective effort across the ecosystem.
“No single institution can build a connected regional payments ecosystem on its own,” she says. “Progress depends on collaboration between regulators, banks, payment operators, fintechs and ecosystem participants working towards shared goals. That is how shared infrastructure becomes a foundation for shared ambitions.”
As we celebrate Africa Day today and the importance of continental unity and collective progress, platforms such as TCIB are demonstrating how modern payments infrastructure can help build a more connected, inclusive and economically integrated future for the region.