Africa loses $5 billion every year to correspondent banking fees and delays. That figure, documented by the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, belongs in the infrastructure conversation, not just the policy one.
A recent Finance in Africa piece makes a strong case for Open Payments architecture as the path toward genuine continental financial connectivity. The central reassurance is that banks do not need to abandon their core ledgers to upgrade their rails. New systems act as an overlay. That raises one practical question: what does a bank need to have in place before an overlay delivers its full value?
The answer is in the payment processing layer. When payment processing operates as a dedicated layer, integrated to the core banking system via API and managed independently, a bank absorbs change at that layer without it spreading across the whole system. New scheme mandates and connectivity requirements become configuration work, not development projects.
Kenya’s payment environment is accelerating. Transaction volumes are rising, regulatory expectations are tightening, and the demand for real-time interoperable money movement is a current consideration for mid-tier banks. The institutions already operating with a dedicated payment processing layer are absorbing that pressure without significant IT intervention.
Xpertek has been a leader in African banking technology for over three decades. SFI eVolve acts as a powerful payment orchestration layer, sitting alongside your core banking system to handle end-to-end transactions. Designed specifically for the unique demands of the African financial landscape, our scalable architecture supports:
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Presence: 36 installations in 21 countries.
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Volume: R32bn processed per month.
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Speed: Deployment timelines optimized for rapid ROI.
If sorting out your payment layer is a conversation worth having, we are ready to have it.
