Held for a check: a PAPSS payment paused before it is forwarded
Trigger: A cross-border African payment is held for a compliance/validation check at PAPSS or a central bank before being forwarded to the beneficiary side.
What operations sees first: An intra-African payment pauses mid-route while a validation check runs, before the beneficiary's central bank and local bank are reached.
WHERE IS THE MONEY?
Held mid-route during the check; the beneficiary is paid in local currency once the payment is forwarded.
DID SETTLEMENT HAPPEN?
The daily netting and settlement among the participating central banks proceeds once the payment is cleared and routed.
WHO ACTS NEXT?
PAPSS The payer's bank ensures instructions carry what the validation check requires so payments are not paused.
PLAY THE EXCEPTION
Trigger: PAPSS screening flags a potential name match against a sanctions list. The instruction is held and not forwarded until a reviewer decides.
Asha Traders instructs its local bank to pay the supplier
Asha Traders (buyer) → Bank Alfa (buyer's local bank)
Asha Traders owes a supplier in another African country the equivalent of USD 20,000.00 for imported goods, and instructs Bank Alfa to pay in Asha's own local currency (local currency A) — no need to first buy a hard currency such as US dollars.
Step 1 of 9: Asha Traders instructs its local bank to pay the supplier
- 04ProcessingPAPSS validates the instructionPAPSS (Pan-African Payment and Settlement System)
- 05 · EXCEPTION PATHProcessingThe instruction is held in the review queuePAPSS (Pan-African Payment and Settlement System)
- 08 · EXCEPTION PATHProcessingThe reviewer clears the alert as a false positivePAPSS (Pan-African Payment and Settlement System)
- OUTCOME
- Funds
- No money has moved; the instruction was paused at the switch before being forwarded.
- Settlement
- Nothing entered the day's netting until the instruction was cleared and forwarded.
- Who acts next
- PAPSS (Pan-African Payment and Settlement System) — Nothing to fix in the payment; the alert, evidence, and disposition are retained for audit, and repeated false positives on this name feed screening tuning.
Full step-by-step text (works without JavaScript)
- 04ProcessingPAPSS validates the instructionPAPSS (Pan-African Payment and Settlement System)
PAPSS checks the instruction is well-formed and routable and runs compliance screening on the parties before it forwards anything — a shared control point sitting between the two central banks.
Screening checkpoint: PAPSS instruction screening — Party names and details are screened against sanctions lists at the switch, in addition to the checks each bank and central bank runs; a potential match holds the payment for review before it is forwarded.
- 05 · EXCEPTION PATHProcessingThe instruction is held in the review queuePAPSS (Pan-African Payment and Settlement System)
An alert is raised and PAPSS does not forward the instruction to Central Bank B. The delay is visible to both trading parties — but forwarding a true match would be far worse than a pause.
- 08 · EXCEPTION PATHProcessingThe reviewer clears the alert as a false positivePAPSS (Pan-African Payment and Settlement System)
The secondary identifiers do not match the listed party, so the alert is closed as a false positive; the evidence, decision, and reviewer are recorded for audit.
- OUTCOME
- Funds
- No money has moved; the instruction was paused at the switch before being forwarded.
- Settlement
- Nothing entered the day's netting until the instruction was cleared and forwarded.
- Who acts next
- PAPSS (Pan-African Payment and Settlement System) — Nothing to fix in the payment; the alert, evidence, and disposition are retained for audit, and repeated false positives on this name feed screening tuning.
THE TIMELINE
- 01Bank Alfa (payer's local bank)Forwards Asha Traders' payment instruction, in the payer's local currency, to Central Bank A.
- 02Central Bank ASends the instruction to PAPSS for validation and routing.
- 03PAPSSHolds the payment for a compliance/validation check before forwarding it to the beneficiary's central bank.
A defensive control: the payment is validated before it is routed onward; a possible issue pauses it for review.
- 04PAPSSClears the check and forwards the payment to Central Bank B and the beneficiary's local bank, which pays the supplier in local currency.
Resolution: The payment is paused for a validation check, not rejected. Once cleared it is forwarded and the beneficiary is paid in their local currency; the day's balances still net and settle among the central banks.
Sources for this scenario2
- Official requirement
PAPSS (Pan-African Payment and Settlement System) ↗ — Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) / Afreximbank · validation / routing
PAPSS lets parties transact in their own African currencies; the days cross-currency balances are netted and settled among participating central banks daily.
- Simplified educational illustration
Payments Signal editorial teaching models — Payments Signal
What this simplifies: Single-cycle teaching model; participant-specific handling and exact timings vary.
Used wherever diagrams, scenarios, figures, or example values are didactic constructions rather than sourced facts; every such use carries a simplifications disclosure. All people, companies, banks, and list entries in examples are fictional.