The Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) has announced its certification of ISO27701:2019, an international standard for Privacy Information Management System. This, it stated came four months after it achieved ISO 27001 certification, demonstrating PAPSS’ ongoing commitment to ensure stakeholders data collected and received for transaction processing are managed, shared, and disposed in compliance with data security and privacy global best practices.

According to a statement, the achievement also provided assurance that processing of personal data at PAPSS was being done in compliance with applicable data privacy laws. ISO/IEC 27701:2019 is a privacy extension to ISO27001 with the design goal to enhance the existing Information Security Management System (ISMS) with additional requirements in order to establish, implement, maintain, and continually improve a Privacy Information Management System (PIMS). The standard outlines a framework for Personally Identifiable Information (PII) Controllers and Processors to manage privacy controls that will minimize to acceptable levels risks associated with privacy and privacy rights.

What does it mean? As CEO of PAPSS, Mike Ogbalu III, observed, earning the ISO 27701 certification reflects the ongoing commitment to the security and privacy of the entity’s stakeholders data in the current context of evolving cyber threats and global data privacy obligations, such as GDPR. This is especially true in the business of cross border payments, where a transaction is initiated in one jurisdiction and terminates in a different jurisdiction. The certification provides a level of assurance to stakeholders that information used to complete a transaction in different jurisdictions is processed and maintained securely and within applicable laws.

PAPSS is a centralised Financial Market Infrastructure that allows for the efficient flow of money securely across African borders, minimising risk and contributing to financial integration across the regions. It works in collaboration with Africa’s central banks to provide a payment and settlement service to which commercial banks and licensed payment service providers across the region can connect as ‘participants’. Afreximbank and the African Union had endorsed the PAPSS at the 12th Extraordinary Summit of the African Union held on 7 July 2019, in Niger Republic, therefore adopting PAPSS as an instrument for the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).

Further, in its 13th extraordinary session, held on the 5 December 2020, the assembly of African Union had recommitted and instructed the Afreximbank and the AfCFTA secretariat to finalise among others, work on the PAPSS. The 35th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the AU, further directed the AfCFTA and Afreximbank to deploy the system to cover the entire continent. PAPSS was officially launched on 13 January 2021 in Accra, Ghana Republic.

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