Southern Africa has taken another step toward deeper financial integration after the regional cross-border payments system added the Angolan kwanza as a settlement currency, with plans to include more African currencies as trade within the region expands.
The Southern African Development Community’s (SADC) real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system formally added the kwanza on Monday, marking the first new settlement currency to join the platform since its launch in 2013.
Operated by the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), the system processed about $3.77 billion in trade and interbank transactions across the region in 2025.
The expansion for Africa’s biggest economy is expected to make cross-border payments cheaper and faster by allowing businesses and banks to settle more transactions directly in regional currencies rather than relying on costly correspondent banking networks.
It also supports the African Continental Free Trade Area’s (AfCFTA) objective of increasing intra-African trade by reducing one of its biggest obstacles—the high cost and complexity of cross-border payments.
