Grey builds African payment rails to enable direct currency conversions
Grey is developing its own payment infrastructure within Africa to facilitate direct conversions between African currencies, reducing reliance on the US dollar for cross-border transfers. The fintech company aims to address persistent challenges in regional payments, including high costs and slow settlement times.
Editor, Lazyfounder
Payment rails to reduce friction
Grey, a fintech company focused on cross-border payments, is developing its own payment rails within Africa to address persistent challenges in regional money transfers. According to TechCabal, the initiative aims to improve the reliability and liquidity of cross-border transactions by enabling direct conversions between African currencies, reducing dependence on the US dollar as an intermediary.
The company currently operates in markets including Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana, where it has partnered with local providers to source currencies and settle transfers in real time. This approach bypasses the traditional route of converting African currencies through the US dollar, which adds cost and delays.
Products and regional integration
Grey has introduced products to support its payment infrastructure. In February, it launched Grey Business, a multi-currency account tailored for startups and small businesses. In July, the company added local-currency deposits in Ghana and Kenya, allowing users to fund accounts via bank transfer or mobile money.
Regional regulators are also pushing for greater payments integration. The Central Bank of Nigeria, for example, has been working on linking domestic systems to the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), which enables cross-border settlements in local currencies.
Why cross-border payments remain a challenge
Cross-border payments within Africa continue to face significant hurdles. Fragmented payment systems, limited foreign currency liquidity, and multiple conversion fees make transactions slow and expensive. By building its own payment rails, Grey aims to mitigate these issues, though the success of such efforts will depend on broader regulatory and market adoption.
What this means
Lazyfounder analysis — our interpretation, not reported fact.
Grey’s move to build its own payment rails reflects a growing trend among African fintech companies to tackle long-standing inefficiencies in cross-border transactions. For founders and operators in the region, this signals an opportunity to explore alternative payment infrastructures that reduce costs and reliance on foreign currencies like the US dollar. However, the effectiveness of such systems will depend on partnerships with regulators, banks, and other fintech players, as well as user adoption.
For startups and businesses operating across multiple African markets, Grey’s approach could offer a preview of how similar solutions might evolve—especially if regulators continue to support initiatives like PAPSS. This could also pressure incumbents to innovate or risk losing market share to more agile players.
Related on Lazyfounder
Sources
- TechCabal · 2026-10-31
Intra-African payment rails are key to cutting cross-border friction, says Grey
This story is an original summary drafted with AI by Lazyfounder from the reporting listed above and checked by automated validation. Facts are attributed to their original publishers; sections marked as analysis are Lazyfounder's. Where a source is in another language, facts were machine-translated and quotations are reported, not reproduced. Read the original coverage via the links, and see our AI policy and corrections policy.
About the author
Editor, Lazyfounder
Tarun Mottlia edits LazyFounders, covering Indian startups, funding rounds, AI and product launches. Every story on the site is AI-assisted and checked against its cited sources before publication.
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