Yuno, a Colombian payment orchestration platform, and Onafriq, a major African payments network, have announced a partnership to create a new on-ramp for pan-African payment infrastructure. The collaboration, announced this week, merges Yuno’s global payment orchestration technology with Onafriq’s extensive network, which connects over 500 million mobile money wallets and bank accounts across more than 40 African markets.

The combined service aims to simplify the complex process for global merchants and platforms seeking to accept digital payments in Africa. Yuno’s chief executive, Juan Pablo Ortega, stated that the partnership directly addresses the fragmentation of payment methods across the continent. “Our goal is to make accepting payments in Africa as straightforward as it is in Europe or North America,” Ortega said. The integration allows businesses to connect to Onafriq’s single API to access a wide range of local payment options, from mobile money services like M-Pesa and Airtel Money to card networks and bank transfers.

This move comes amid a broader industry push to modernize Africa’s cross-border payment systems, which have traditionally relied on correspondent banking networks that are often slow and expensive. In a parallel development, Nigerian fintech Flutterwave has been actively working to replace these older banking rails with stablecoin-based settlements. According to a report, Flutterwave’s new infrastructure, developed in partnership with USDC issuer Circle, allows merchants to receive settlements in minutes rather than days, sidestepping the traditional correspondent bank system.

The trend towards stablecoins for cross-border transactions is gaining notable traction in Nigeria. Recent analysis indicates Nigeria is leading African adoption of cross-border stablecoin payments, driven by its large diaspora remittance flows and a tech-savvy population seeking faster, cheaper alternatives to traditional channels. This shift is part of a wider fintech evolution across the continent, where digital finance solutions are increasingly critical for financial inclusion and intra-African trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Flutterwave’s efforts in this space recently attracted a strategic investment from Ripple as part of its Series E funding round, announced earlier this year. Ripple’s participation is aimed at accelerating the adoption of Flutterwave’s stablecoin payment solutions across Africa. While Yuno and Onafriq’s partnership focuses on the merchant acceptance layer, the underlying settlement layer is undergoing its own transformation, with companies like Flutterwave exploring digital currency solutions to improve efficiency.

The Yuno-Onafriq partnership represents a significant step in consolidating the front-end access points for these evolving payment systems. For merchants, especially those outside Africa, the combined offering reduces the technical and operational burden of integrating multiple, country-specific payment providers. Onafriq’s chief executive, Dare Okoudjou, emphasized the partnership’s role in building a more connected African digital economy. “By working with Yuno, we are making our pan-African network more accessible to global businesses, which in turn supports economic growth and digital commerce within Africa,” Okoudjou said.