Cemfix has entered into a strategic partnership with the Pan-African Payments and Settlement System (PAPSS) to deploy a new compliance and governance layer aimed at strengthening trust and regulatory oversight in Africa’s rapidly growing cross-border payments market.
The deal introduces PGAT, a real-time compliance engine built by Simfix, which connects identity data, payment behavior and regulatory checks into a single workflow. The platform gives central banks and commercial lenders a unified view of cross-border transactions, helping them enforce limits and detect suspicious activity without slowing down settlement speeds.
PAPSS, operated by Afreximbank and used by central banks and approved financial institutions to send and receive payments in local African currencies, will champion the tool across its network. CemFix will build and operate the PGAT under a vendor-funded arrangement, allowing PAPSS to scale up the regulatory infrastructure without new upfront capital.
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The partnership directly responds to the growing demand from banks and regulators for stronger visibility as cross-border trade grows under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Financial institutions using PAPSS have repeatedly noted that while payment speeds have improved, compliance processes remain fragmented and often rely on manual verification.
“Payments are gaining momentum across Africa, but trust must go with them,” said Chimezi Emewulu, Group CEO of Simfix. “This partnership helps banks and regulators see what they need to see at the time they need to see it, without getting in the way of transactions.”
PGATE leverages CemFix's Fixium identity engine to match and verify customers across institutions, a long-standing challenge in African payments where identity records are often kept secret. The platform also offers pre-transaction screening, quota governance, consent management, and auditable post-settlement trails that regulators can review, thereby reducing compliance disputes between institutions.
Analysts say the partnership is at a pivotal moment as Afreximbank positions PAPSS as the engine for seamless intra-African trade settlements. Many African businesses still rely on correspondent banking routes outside the continent, increasing costs, delays and foreign exchange risks. They argue that compliance-first architecture can accelerate the adoption of PAPSS by reducing the risk profile of cross-border flows.
Also read: Africa's payments revolution: PAPSS expands network, powering continental business dreams
For CemFix, the deal expands its footprint in regulatory and identity infrastructure across the banking, telecommunications and government sectors. The company, co-founded by Emewulu and Chibuzor Onwurah, was built on the premise that identity is a fundamental right and a prerequisite for economic participation, an ethos reflected in the PGAT framework, which links payments with verifiable identity in real-time.
CEMFIX and PAPSS will initiate joint stakeholder engagement ahead of proof of concept with selected central banks and commercial banks. If successful, PGATE could become the standard compliance layer in PAPSS corridors, shaping the way African regulators and payment providers monitor and manage cross-border risks.
With AfCFTA's success partly dependent on reliable, low-friction payments, the partnership positions both organizations to influence the next phase of Africa's financial integration, where speed and regulatory assurance are no longer competing priorities but embedded in a single system.
