Access Bank Plc has initiated a strategic customer-focused programme to accelerate the adoption of the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) and to significantly reduce the cost and friction of cross-border transfers across the continent. The initiative, branded the Zero-Fee Outbound Campaign, is engineered to demonstrate the practical value of PAPSS by allowing eligible customers to move funds from Nigeria to other African countries in local currencies without incurring outbound transfer charges for a defined period.
The core proposition of the campaign is straightforward. From February 1 through April 30, 2026, Nigerians who initiate eligible cross-border remittances in Naira will pay zero outbound fees, while the recipients in other African markets receive the equivalent value in their “local currencies”. This approach removes one of the most persistent cost barriers to intra-African payments, positioning local-currency settlement as not only technically feasible but also commercially viable through a mainstream banking channel.
PAPSS itself is a continent-level payment infrastructure championed by institutions like the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), the African Union and the Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Its purpose is to enable real-time, secure settlement of cross-border payments between African countries without the mandatory use of major foreign currencies like the US dollar or the euro, a historical source of cost, delay, and complexity in regional payments.
Access Bank has embedded this capability into its digital platform, Access Africa, and is leveraging both digital and physical customer channels to drive usage. The bank’s Remittance Unit Head emphasised that the campaign aims not just to raise awareness but to build actual user confidence in PAPSS by encouraging customers to “try it and see how easy it is”, particularly through the bank’s AccessMore mobile app and branch network.
This kind of targeted fee waiver strategy serves dual purposes. First, it reduces the immediate cost burden for individuals sending money to support families, pay for education, handle business commitments, or engage in trade across African borders. Second, it gives corporate clients and other high-frequency users the ability to experience low-cost, near-real-time settlement, which can reshape expectations about how intra-African commerce and remittances should work.
By removing upfront charges for outbound transfers, Access Bank is effectively lowering the trial cost of PAPSS for its customers and improving the clarity of the value proposition. In markets where traditional correspondents and foreign exchange intermediaries have dominated, this comparison, zero outbound fees and local-currency settlement, presents a compelling case for wider behavioural change.
Operationally, the campaign combines digital activations, in-branch education, media engagement, and supported demonstrations of the cross-border payment process. Customers can complete eligible transactions through the relevant module on the AccessMore app or initiate them at physical branches if they prefer a face-to-face process.
For Access Bank, this initiative reflects a broader competitive strategy to entrench its digital payments ecosystem and to nurture early adopters of PAPSS. It also reinforces the bank’s role in facilitating intra-African economic activity at a time when broader continental integration, via mechanisms like AfCFTA and linked payment systems, is seen as essential to unlocking new trade and investment flows.
In summary, the Zero-Fee Outbound Campaign is a time-bound, economically driven push to normalise cost-effective cross-border transactions in local currencies, reduce reliance on foreign denominations, and strengthen the usage of PAPSS across Access Bank’s retail and corporate customer base.
