Grey is constructing its personal payment connections between African markets to make cross-border transfers extra dependable and to safe the international forex wanted to settle them, Idorenyin Obong, its co-founder and chief government, stated at a press briefing at Moonshot by TechCabal 2026 on Thursday.
“We have invested in building rails within Africa,” Obong stated.
Grey lets people and companies ship and obtain cash throughout markets together with Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana. Moving cash between African nations stays sluggish and dear as a result of payment methods are fragmented, every conversion provides a payment, and {dollars} or different international forex are typically scarce.
Obong named two issues. The first is reliability: ensuring cash arrives when the shopper was informed it will. The second is liquidity: discovering sufficient of the appropriate forex to full the switch. Grey has partnered with suppliers throughout its markets to supply these currencies and settle transfers in actual time, he stated.
Most transfers between two African currencies have historically gone by means of the US greenback first. Grey says it now converts immediately between some African currencies.
“The crux of the matter is that there used to be a need for an intermediary, but we have built out these exotic currency pairs so that you don’t have to go that extent,” Obong stated.
The push follows two product launches this 12 months. In February, Grey launched Grey Business, a multi-currency account for startups and small companies. In July, it added local-currency deposits in Ghana and Kenya, letting customers fund accounts by financial institution switch or cellular cash.
Regulators are engaged on the identical drawback. In June, TechCabal reported that the Central Bank of Nigeria was pursuing nearer regional funds integration, together with hyperlinks to the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), which lets African nations settle cross-border funds in their very own currencies.
If firms like Grey can settle immediately between African currencies, a dealer in Lagos paying a provider in Nairobi would now not want to purchase {dollars} first, eradicating one of many costliest steps in commerce throughout the continent.
