Introduction

In many mature markets, real-time payments are sold as a fintech differentiator—“Faster payments? Sure, your app can use that.” But in LATAM and Africa, real-time rails are evolving into public infrastructure—leveraged by central banks and governments as the foundation for embedded finance, inclusion, and economic development.

For Montran and similar infrastructure players, the shift is profound: real-time rails are no longer optional modules—they are the strategic backbone for future financial ecosystems.

Fintech Tool vs National Backbone

When real-time payments are treated merely as a feature, adoption is fragmented, conditional, and often limited to urban users. But when they are built as national rails, the logic changes:

• Mandated participation ensures ubiquity across banks, PSPs, and digital platforms.
• Public mission orientation (inclusion, affordability, interoperability) becomes part of the design criteria.
• Long-term scale and stability demand investment, regulatory discipline, and sustained governance.

In LATAM and Africa, central banks increasingly view IPS/ACH modernization as essential national infrastructure—not simply another product in the fintech stack.

LATAM: Pix and Beyond

Brazil’s Pix is perhaps the clearest exemplar of embedding rails into national strategy. Launched by the Central Bank in late 2020, Pix has scaled rapidly. By 2024, it processed more than 63 billion transactions and handled trillions in value. Pix now accounts for nearly half of all non-cash payments in Brazil.

What makes Pix striking is not just its sheer transaction volume, but the way it has become embedded across Brazil’s financial and economic life. Retailers now integrate Pix seamlessly at checkout, with QR codes enabling instant settlement between customers and merchants. Governments and utilities have also embraced the system, using it for tax collection, bill payments, and the direct distribution of subsidies.

This reach is amplified by Pix’s design. Its low or zero-cost structure removes barriers to use, while its open architecture makes integration straightforward for financial institutions, fintechs, and service providers. Most importantly, the Central Bank’s mandate for broad participation ensures that Pix is not limited to a handful of players but available across the entire ecosystem. Together, these choices have turned Pix from a payment tool into a national platform for embedded finance.

In Mexico, CoDi and other regional real-time initiatives are pursuing a similar vision: public payment rails as enablers of inclusive, embedded finance ecosystems.

Africa: Inclusive Rails for Inclusion

Across Africa, central banks are embedding IPS modernization into national strategies for financial inclusion and digital growth.

Africa’s approach to real-time rails also reflects its unique market dynamics—where mobile money penetration, cross-border trade corridors, and SME-driven economies shape payment design. A landmark example comes from the BCEAO, whose recently launched regional interoperability platform now enables instant payments across the WAEMU zone. Entirely developed in-house, the system connects banks and mobile money operators, achieving real-time interoperability between mobile ecosystems and extending access far beyond traditional banking networks. This initiative positions West Africa among the pioneers of publicly owned, inclusive instant payment infrastructure.

Elsewhere on the continent, Mauritania, the Central Bank of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda are each advancing their own national instant payment projects, aiming to unify fragmented payment landscapes and accelerate financial inclusion. Together, these initiatives signal a continental shift: Africa is not merely adopting real-time payment technologies—it is designing them as public utilities, tailored to local realities and built to serve as the backbone of digital economies.

Ghana’s GhIPSS has rolled out GhIPSS Instant Pay (GIP) and Mobile Money Interoperability, making Ghana one of the few African countries with fully interoperable instant payments across banks and wallets.

The SIIPS 2024 study identified 28 active IPS systems across 20 African countries, measuring inclusivity across governance, access, and feature design. Authorities in Nigeria (NIBSS), Rwanda (RSwitch), and Tanzania (TIPS) are embedding interoperability and affordability into system design.

Beyond national boundaries, the Pan-African Payment & Settlement System (PAPSS) is creating real-time settlement corridors across countries. In 2023, Ghana completed its first PAPSS transaction with Nigeria—demonstrating how regional rails can power embedded cross-border finance.

While central banks increasingly view instant payments as catalysts for the AfCFTA vision of continental integration. At the same time, infrastructure players like Montran are helping African central banks transition from legacy ACH systems to modern, API-driven IPS platforms—bridging banks, fintechs, and mobile operators under unified, low-cost national schemes. This evolution underscores Africa’s position not just as an adopter of real-time payments, but as an innovator in inclusive, hybrid payment ecosystems where public policy and private innovation converge.

Design Choices That Matter

To succeed, rails intended for embedded finance must navigate critical trade-offs:

• Open architecture, use of recognized payment standards and APIs so fintechs, PSPs, and financial institutions can plug in easily.
• Neutral governance that treats all participants equally.
• Tiered access and pricing to avoid excluding smaller players.
• Cross-border interoperability to support trade and remittances.
• Public interest KPIs measuring success not only by transaction volumes, but by inclusion and ecosystem growth.

Risks & Trade-offs

Designing rails as national infrastructure also brings hazards:

• Governance capture if oversight is weak.
• Fragmentation if countries build incompatible systems.
• Access inequality if onboarding costs are too high.
• Operational risks from increased system complexity.

Transparent governance, phased rollout, and regional coordination are essential to avoid these pitfalls.

Designing Rails for the Public Good

Real-time payments are no longer boutique products — they are national strategy. LATAM’s Pix and Africa’s IPS initiatives prove that when rails are owned, governed, and operated in the public interest, they scale rapidly and unlock embedded finance for millions.

At Montran, we believe embedded finance flourishes only on wide rails designed for the public good. Our approach to IPS and ACH modernization is secure, modular, and open — giving central banks, fintechs, and financial institutions the foundation to innovate with confidence.

For us, rails are not the endgame; they are the platform for ecosystems. The challenge ahead is not just building more rails, but building rails that enable — inclusive, resilient, and future-ready infrastructure that unifies the world financially.

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