Morocco is making inroads into the world of instant payments, according to the Inclusive Instant Payment Systems (SIIPS) in Africa 2023 report, said AfricaNenda.
The report highlighted that Africa’s instant payment systems are sprouting.
“Three new instant payment systems were launched in Ethiopia, Morocco, and South Africa in the last twelve months, bringing the total number of live domestic and regional instant payment systems on the continent to 32,” mentioned the report according to AfricaNenda.
The new systems are Virement Instantané used in Morocco, EthSwitch in Ethiopia, and PayShap in South Africa.
Morocco and South Africa have now joined a select group of African countries that have multiple instant payment systems. The countries include Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and Tanzania according to the report.
It also states that while Morocco has launched new instant payment systems, more work needs to be done to make them fully inclusive.
During the report’s launching, AfricaNenda CEO, Roberto Ochola said that the remarkable growth of instant payment systems in Africa since last year demonstrates the collective commitment to driving positive change in the continent,
He added, “We will continue our efforts to provide critical pre-project planning and program management support to expand SIIPS projects, advocate for critical policy reforms, and enhance the capacity of African institutions and payments industry experts.”
The same source noted that instant payment systems in Africa will facilitate nearly 32 billion transactions valued at 1.2 trillion dollars in 2022.
However, the report highlighted that 27 countries lack domestic instant payment functionality in Africa as of 2023 and 17 countries are in early development stages.
The data in the SIIPS 2023 report was compiled using publicly available resources and data shared by selected African central banks and switch operators between January and June 2023.
In June 2023, the Moroccan central bank, Bank Al-Maghrib, and the clearing house, Groupement pour un Système Interbancaire Marocain de Télécompensation (GSIMT), collaborated to launch the bank IPS, Virement Instantané.
The implementers intend to eventually roll it out to all Moroccan banks in order to improve transaction speed, availability, and payment simplicity. The service provides instant peer-to-peer payments.