These themes were at the heart of a high-level panel discussion at APIDE 2026, where key industry leaders explored how Africa’s payment infrastructure is evolving to meet the demands of faster economies and more connected financial ecosystems.
The panel brought together:
Ndeda Nakhulo, Head of Risk and Compliance, PesaFlow
Arnaud Crouzet, VP Strategy and Business Consulting, Consult Hyperion
Mohamed Abdelrahman, General Manager of Payment Instruments and Electronic Acceptance Channels, Central Bank of Egypt
Jean-Philippe Wolyniec, Regional Director of Business Development, OpenWay
Together with other market players, they highlighted several key trends shaping the continent’s payment future:
Hybrid cloud as the emerging operating model. A balance between cloud scalability and sovereign requirements is becoming essential, enabling modern payment services while maintaining control over local data and regulation.
Interoperable real-time payment rails. Instant payments are accelerating across Africa, with initiatives such as PAPSS driving cross-border interoperability and regional integration.
Payment orchestration and multi-rail strategies. Banks are moving beyond legacy infrastructures, adopting aggregation and orchestration models to support multiple payment methods and rails through a unified approach.
Transactional data and AI-driven value creation. The ability to capture and leverage payment data is becoming a strategic advantage — powering fraud prevention, deeper customer insight, advanced reporting, and faster innovation in new products.
In this context, digital payment platforms like Way4 play a critical role in enabling Africa’s payment modernization. With real-time processing, AI-ready transactional data, and flexible execution logic built into a single enterprise-grade system, Way4 helps banks and payment providers deliver always-on, interoperable services across cards, accounts, wallets, andinstant payment rails — supporting the continent’s shift toward open, data-driven ecosystems.
Across Africa, Way4 is already supporting major modernization initiatives. A large pan-African bank running on Way4 is currently transforming its infrastructure to move beyond traditional monetization models and connect with new payment ecosystems. In Libya, Way4 isalso being used by a leading bank to deepen customer understanding, identify usage patterns, and deliver significantly more advanced reporting and analytics.
As Africa continues to build the next generation of payment infrastructure, the focus is clear: real-time connectivity, open interoperability, and intelligent use of data will define the future of financial services across the continent.
Contact us to exchange on payment innovation strategies and explore how leading banks are modernizing across Africa.