Grey builds its own intra-African payment rails to cut cross-border friction
Key Takeaways
- •Grey is building its own payment rails between African markets, including Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana, to make cross-border transfers more reliable.
- •Grey now converts directly between some African currency pairs, eliminating the historical need to route transfers through the US dollar first.
- •The company addresses reliability and liquidity challenges by partnering with providers across its markets to source currencies and settle transfers in real time.
- •Grey launched Grey Business, a multi-currency account for startups and small businesses, in February, and added local-currency deposits in Ghana and Kenya via bank transfer or mobile money in July.
- •Grey's direct currency pairs mirror public-sector efforts such as the Central Bank of Nigeria's pursuit of links to PAPSS, the 2022 settlement system launched by Afreximbank and the AfCFTA Secretariat that lets African countries settle payments in their own currencies.
Cross-border payments company Grey is building its own payment connections between African markets to make transfers more reliable and to secure the foreign currency needed to settle them, co-founder and chief executive Idorenyin Obong said at a press briefing at Moonshot by TechCabal 2026 on Thursday.
“We have invested in building rails within Africa,” Obong said.
The platform lets individuals and businesses send and receive money across markets including Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana. Payments between African countries remain slow and costly, however: payment systems are fragmented, every currency conversion adds a fee, and dollars or other foreign currencies are often in short supply.
Obong pointed to two problems. The first is reliability: ensuring money arrives when the customer was told it would. The second is liquidity: finding enough of the right currency to complete a transfer. Grey has partnered with providers across its markets to source those currencies and settle transfers in real time, he said.
Historically, most transfers between two African currencies were routed through the US dollar first. Grey says it now converts directly between some African currency pairs.
“The crux of the matter is that there used to be a need for an intermediary, but we have built out these exotic currency pairs so that you don’t have to go that extent,” Obong said.
The push follows two product launches this year. In February, Grey launched Grey Business, a multi-currency account for startups and small businesses. In July, it added local-currency deposits in Ghana and Kenya, letting users fund accounts by bank transfer or mobile money.
Regulators are grappling with the same challenge. In June, TechCabal reported that the Central Bank of Nigeria was pursuing closer regional payments integration, including links to the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), which enables African countries to settle cross-border payments in their own currencies. PAPSS was launched in 2022 by Afreximbank in partnership with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, and Grey’s direct currency pairs amount to a private-sector counterpart: both replace dollar intermediation with settlement in local money. How far those direct pairs extend beyond Grey’s current markets, and whether the CBN’s PAPSS links move from pursuit to live connections, are the open questions for the sector.
If companies like Grey can settle directly between African currencies, a trader in Lagos paying a supplier in Nairobi would no longer need to buy dollars first — cutting out one of the costliest steps in trade within the continent.
Source: TechCabal
