Deterministic Tool · No AI · Auditable

PAPSS vs SWIFT Settlement Calculator

Intra-African payments routed the old way pass through a USD correspondent bank — two FX conversions, correspondent fees, and days of tied-up capital. PAPSS settles the same payment directly in local currency. This tool computes the exact difference from numbers you control.

Pure arithmetic You set every fee and rate. The tool applies the documented double-conversion and cost-of-capital formulas — nothing is estimated by a model.

Load corridor:

Payment Inputs all editable

Payment amount (sender's local currency)

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Corridor (sender → receiver)

SWIFT / USD assumptions

FX spread per conversion (local↔USD, each leg)

Correspondent / intermediary bank fees

SWIFT settlement time (days capital tied up)

PAPSS assumptions

PAPSS FX spread (single local↔local conversion)

PAPSS transaction fee

PAPSS settlement time (T+0/T+1)

Cost of capital (annual %, tied-up funds)

Settlement Comparison

Total saving via PAPSS

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— cheaper than the SWIFT/USD route

SWIFT / USD

Local → USD → Local (2 conversions)

FX cost (2 legs)—

Correspondent fees—

Cost of capital—

Total cost—

PAPSS

Local → Local (1 conversion)

FX cost (1 leg)—

Transaction fee—

Cost of capital—

Total cost—

Saving as % of payment

Days settlement faster

0days

Saving per transaction

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Annual (12 transactions)

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SWIFT vs PAPSS — Cost breakdown comparison

Treasury Planning — Projected savings by transaction volume

Methodology & Audit TrailHow every number is computed · tap to expand▾

The core insight PAPSS addresses: a payment between two African countries has historically been routed through a USD correspondent bank. That means two FX conversions (local→USD, USD→local), each carrying a spread, plus correspondent fees, plus days of tied-up capital. PAPSS replaces this with a single direct local-currency conversion, settled near-instantly.

Each route's total cost has three components:

FX cost. SWIFT = amount × spread% × 2 (two legs). PAPSS = amount × spread% × 1 (single leg). This is where most of the saving originates.
Explicit fees. SWIFT = correspondent/intermediary bank flat fee. PAPSS = PAPSS transaction fee. Both entered by you.
Cost of capital. Money in transit cannot be deployed. Cost = amount × (annual CoC% ÷ 365) × settlement days. A 4-day SWIFT settlement ties up capital 4× longer than a 1-day PAPSS settlement.

Treasury projections multiply the per-transaction saving by volume (12×, 24×, 52× per year).

PAPSS availability (Q2 2026): Live: NGN/KES, GHS/NGN, KES/ZAR, EGP/NGN, XOF/NGN, XOF/GHS, XAF/NGN, RWF/KES, TZS/KES. Not live: Angola, Mozambique, DRC, Ethiopia, Sudan — use USD SWIFT. Participating banks: BK Rwanda, KCB, Access Bank NG, CIB Cairo, Standard Bank ZA, Ecobank. Source: Afreximbank PAPSS.

This is a computational tool. FX spreads, correspondent fees, settlement times, and cost of capital vary by bank, corridor, and market conditions — you supply every one of those figures and are responsible for confirming them against your actual banking terms. ROAD-1 provides the arithmetic, not financial advice. No figure on this page is generated by an AI model.