Central banks in Africa's largest economies are tightening their grip on payment infrastructure today. In Nigeria, the CBN is mandating e-invoicing for medium-sized businesses and demanding naira settlement for diaspora remittances, while South Africa's Reserve Bank contemplates forcing low-cost P2P transfers to rescue its sluggish PayShap network. On the security front, alarming new data from East Africa shows AI-driven fraud easily bypassing traditional biometric checks.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) issued a formal warning on Thursday that the widespread adoption of AI in finance could amplify systemic risks. The Fund noted that while AI can improve efficiency and fraud detection, it also enables more sophisticated cyberattacks and could lead to synchronized trading that creates market volatility. The IMF is calling on central banks to strengthen their oversight and gain better visibility into how financial institutions are deploying AI.
Why it matters
This high-level warning from the IMF signals that AI risk management is now a top-tier concern for global financial regulators. For a payment gateway, this translates into an expectation of future regulatory scrutiny over the AI models used for fraud detection, risk management, and transaction processing. It moves the conversation about AI from a technical advantage to a core component of regulatory compliance and systemic stability, reinforcing the need for auditable, resilient, and well-governed AI systems.
Merchants are aggressively countering the surge in 'friendly fraud' chargebacks we've been tracking, with a new study showing 73.7% of retailers now deploying or planning to use AI to combat the issue. The report also highlights a 25% surge in malicious bot-initiated transactions in 2025 and notes that 68% of security leaders feel AI has created new blind spots.
Why it matters
These metrics quantify the AI arms race at the merchant level. The parallel rise in AI-driven attacks and AI-powered defenses makes robust, adaptable fraud tooling a non-negotiable part of a payment stack. For a B2B payment gateway, this data validates the market need for advanced fraud detection and chargeback management tools that can demonstrate measurable outcomes in a rapidly evolving threat landscape. The consumer trust issue also highlights the need for transparency in how AI is used at checkout.
Following its decision to prioritize PayShap over a retail CBDC, the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) is now considering mandating low-cost, person-to-person (P2P) transfers for banks to salvage the instant payment system's sluggish adoption. Despite being live for over three years, PayShap's transaction volumes remain low, prompting the SARB to empower operator PayInc to enforce minimum participation requirements and a common QR standard.
Why it matters
A potential mandate from the SARB would fundamentally alter the dynamics of South Africa's instant payment market. For your gateway, this represents a significant infrastructure shift. It could create a more standardized, interoperable, and efficient domestic payment rail, but it would also intensify fee competition and require integration with PayShap's evolving ecosystem. This is a critical development to watch as it could either become a foundational rail for your ZAR processing or a source of new competitive pressure.
The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) has officially canceled Sasfin's banking license, marking the end of a two-year wind-down process. The closure of the 75-year-old institution follows significant regulatory issues, including a R210 million fine for non-compliance in its foreign exchange business and a R5 billion dispute with the tax authority, SARS.
Why it matters
The shuttering of a long-standing bank over forex and tax compliance failures is a stark reminder of the stringent regulatory environment in South Africa. For your payment gateway, it underscores the absolute criticality of a bulletproof compliance framework, especially concerning forex flows. It's a clear signal from the SARB that non-compliance has severe, business-ending consequences, reinforcing the need for rigorous internal controls.
The infrastructure for 'agentic commerce' continues to institutionalize: Coinbase Business announced Thursday it is enabling all clients to accept autonomous payments from AI agents. The system runs on the open-source x402 protocol—the same standard recently adopted by major South African banks—and relies on USDC for programmable dollar settlement.
Why it matters
This is a significant step in operationalizing the 'agentic economy.' By opening this capability to all business clients, Coinbase is creating a scalable on-ramp for merchants to capture autonomous spending. This move challenges traditional payment networks and provides a tangible model for how low-cost, stablecoin-based settlement can underpin machine-to-machine commerce, a trend with long-term implications for cross-border e-commerce and digital service payments.
On Thursday, Ordway announced Ordway Payments, an AI-powered platform designed to eliminate reconciliation challenges by unifying billing and payments. The system automates the cash application process, using AI to match incoming payments (including complex lump-sum payments for multiple invoices) to the correct invoices, and also handles credit card/ACH processing and dispute resolution.
Why it matters
This is a practical, production-grade application of AI aimed at a core B2B operational headache. By focusing on automating the complex and often manual process of reconciliation, Ordway is addressing a tangible pain point for finance teams. For your small B2B payments team, this serves as a good example of the kind of value-added, AI-driven automation that can differentiate a B2B payments offering beyond simple transaction processing.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is adding operational teeth to its target of reaching $1 billion in monthly diaspora remittances by the end of 2026. Governor Olayemi Cardoso stated on Thursday the strategy now involves mandating naira settlement accounts for International Money Transfer Operators (IMTOs) to retain more foreign currency locally, as the bank shifts focus from recapitalization to aggressive economic expansion and lending.
Why it matters
This aggressive target for diaspora remittances, combined with the mandate to settle in naira, is a direct attempt to bolster FX liquidity within Nigeria's official market. For your cross-border merchants, increased and more stable FX inflows could eventually lead to more predictable forex repatriation. However, the immediate impact of mandating naira settlement for IMTOs is a key operational detail to watch, as it could alter the mechanics and costs of fund flows.
Building on the 2.54% African fraud rate finding from Sumsub we noted recently, the firm's full Q1 2026 report reveals that fintech-based fraud in East Africa is 66% higher than the global average. Crucially, the data shows fraudsters are bypassing traditional document checks using stolen but genuine identities, with 97% of East African fraud now detected during facial biometric verification steps as AI tools successfully defeat liveness checks.
Why it matters
This report provides hard data on the specific nature of the fraud threat in East Africa. The key takeaway is that fraudsters aren't faking documents; they are using real identities and defeating liveness checks with AI. This makes simple KYC checks insufficient. For your gateway, it means any identity verification or fraud detection system for the Kenyan market must be sophisticated enough to detect AI-driven presentation attacks and behavioral anomalies, not just check static identity data.
Nigeria is expanding its national e-invoicing system, with the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) now making onboarding mandatory for medium-sized businesses as of July 2026. This follows the initial rollout for large taxpayers and is part of a three-year plan to digitize tax collection and monitor business activity in real-time. The system aims to provide the NRS with greater visibility and transparency into business transactions.
Why it matters
The expansion of mandatory e-invoicing is a foundational infrastructure shift in Nigeria. For your B2B payment gateway, this standardizes a critical piece of financial data and creates an official, machine-readable format for B2B transactions. While primarily for tax purposes, this infrastructure for verifiable, digital invoices could be leveraged to streamline B2B payment flows, improve transaction verification, and potentially enable new trade finance products for your merchants.
Closing a legislative push we've tracked over the past month, Kenyan Members of Parliament have officially voted to exempt mobile money transfer fees from the proposed 16% Value Added Tax (VAT). The Friday confirmation ensures transaction costs for dominant services like M-Pesa and Airtel Money will remain unaffected, preserving a key pillar of the country's financial inclusion strategy.
Why it matters
This is a significant win for the affordability and continued dominance of mobile money in Kenya. For your gateway, it removes a major potential cost complication for M-Pesa integrations and local collections. The decision maintains the status quo on pricing, ensuring that mobile money remains an accessible payment option for the vast majority of e-commerce customers in Kenya without the friction of a new tax.
A new Microfinance Bill 2026 in Kenya, detailed on Thursday, grants the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) extensive powers to regulate the sector, including capping loan recoveries and revoking licenses to curb predatory lending. The bill also raises the minimum core capital requirement for micro-lenders to KSh 250 million, bringing them under a much tighter regulatory regime similar to commercial banks.
Why it matters
This legislative overhaul will significantly reshape Kenya's credit landscape by increasing the CBK's authority. For payment gateways, a more stringently regulated financial ecosystem can lead to greater stability and security. As the CBK also seeks stronger AML powers within this bill, expect a trickle-down effect of stricter compliance requirements across the entire payments chain, impacting operational risk and due diligence processes.
AI's Dual Role in Finance: Amplifying Risk While Forcing Defensive Innovation The IMF is now formally warning that AI could amplify systemic financial risks, demanding stronger central bank oversight. Concurrently, data shows merchants are increasingly adopting AI to combat a 25% surge in malicious bot transactions and new forms of friendly fraud, while financial regulators themselves are rapidly adopting AI for supervision. The technology is simultaneously the threat and the mandatory response.
African Regulators Push for Deeper Financial System Integrity Multiple central banks are tightening controls to improve financial integrity. In Nigeria, the CBN is overhauling BDC rules and pushing for better governance in banks. In Kenya, the CBK is seeking stronger anti-money laundering powers over the microfinance sector to help exit the FATF grey list. In South Africa, the next FATF evaluation will focus on real convictions, not just rules on paper.
The Fraud Arms Race Escalates with Regional Specificity Fraud patterns are becoming more localized and sophisticated. New data from Ghana indicates fintechs are now the channel for 97% of fraud incidents, as criminals exploit them to move stolen funds. In East Africa, fintech fraud is 66% above the global average, driven by AI-powered scams using genuine stolen identities that bypass traditional checks. This requires payment gateways to adopt highly localized and advanced risk models.
Mobile Money Platforms Continue to Evolve Major mobile money operators are facing strategic shifts. Airtel Money's planned IPO is pressuring competitors like Safaricom to unlock value. Meanwhile, platforms are becoming more integrated into daily life, with the Kenyan government now using Safaricom's Bonga Points loyalty program to facilitate Hustler Fund loan repayments, demonstrating the versatility of mobile money infrastructure.
Infrastructure for Agentic Commerce and B2B AI Payments Solidifies The infrastructure for machine-to-machine payments is moving from theory to production. Coinbase is enabling all its business clients to accept payments from AI agents via the x402 protocol, using USDC for settlement. New players are emerging with dedicated payment stacks for AI agents, while established firms like Ordway are launching AI-powered solutions to automate complex B2B reconciliation challenges.
What to Expect
2026-07-30—Nigeria Fintech Forum 2026 takes place in Lagos.
2026-08-21—'The Borderless Experience' conference on African cross-border payments will be held.
2026-11-04—Compliance deadline for Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) under Kenya's new crypto framework.