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A South African digital payment leader partners with an EU-based fintech to enhance international digital payments. The collaboration spans a wide geographic reach and may contribute to boosting Africa’s DeFi and whole economy.
CAPE TOWN & PARIS – Xago, a South Africa‑headquartered international digital payments leader, and NGPES, a France‑based fintech firm, today announced a strategic integration designed to streamline instant cross‑border payments.
The partnership combines the companies’ complementary strengths to deliver a seamless, blockchain-powered alliance of payment ecosystems, bridging traditional fiat currencies with digital assets.
The integration enables clients of both organizations to execute borderless transfers with unprecedented speed, security, and cost-efficiency.
For the transfers originating in euros from NGPES clients, Xago provides local currency off-ramp services across the multiple countries where it operates.
At the core of this integration is an embedded blockchain component that facilitates near-instantaneous settlement. By leveraging the digital wallets of both platforms, transactions avoid traditional intermediary actors, resulting in reduced costs, enhanced security, and truly frictionless cross-border movement of value.
Both companies operate under rigorous regulatory frameworks: NGPES holds a DASP license and Payment Institution license in France, utilizing fully compliant EUR-pegged stablecoins. Xago maintains full compliance with regulations in South Africa (CASP-licensed), Australia (DCE) and Botswana (VASP, pending), ensuring a secure and risk-minimized environment for digital payments.
This partnership holds particular significance for the African continent, where regulatory landscapes for digital assets are rapidly evolving. Xago stands as one of Africa’s largest and most recognized market players, providing on-ramp and off-ramp services supporting more than 20 African currencies, including ZAR, BWP, NGN, MWK, and ZWG. The collaboration is set to accelerate Africa’s financial integration with global markets, offering corporations and businesses a pathway to faster, more affordable, and reliable international transactions.
The joint initiative creates a comprehensive bridge between traditional fiat payments—via IBANs and account numbers—and digital currencies. Corporate clients, ranging from multinational corporations to small businesses, can execute instant, borderless transfers without intermediaries, utilizing bank accounts across more than 20 African countries, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Mexico, Latin America, the South Pacific, India, and Europe. The service operates 24/7, enabling seamless fund transfers between bank accounts regardless of geographic location.
This capability is especially timely for African businesses operating in critical corridors such as Africa-EU, Africa-US, Africa-Canada, and Africa-UK. As the continent experiences exponential transformation in its DeFi segment, with surging adoption rates, South Africa is emerging as a pacesetter—both as a leading economy and as a jurisdiction where blockchain payment technologies and regulatory frameworks are setting benchmarks for the continent.
Xago’s powerful platform is built on the XRP Ledger (XRPL) and supports international transfers using stablecoins with XRP as bridge assets. Xago also supports major USD-pegged stablecoins USDC and USDT. NGPES utilizes EURC and USDC on Ethereum and Solana. Leveraging the extensive circulation of USDC, NGPES can seamlessly activate USDC and EURC on additional blockchain networks, ensuring maximum flexibility and global reach for its clientele.
“We are thrilled to join forces with Xago, a prominent industry leader that began its journey in Africa and has successfully expanded its payment solutions to more than 50 countries worldwide,” said Frank Combay,
COO of NGPES. “This partnership aligns perfectly with our international expansion strategy and strengthens our presence in Africa, where Xago holds a dominant position. Together, we are delivering a risk-free, highly efficient payment solution that meets the evolving needs of corporate clients globally.”
“Collaborating with NGPES marks a significant event for Xago,” said Kevin Lewis, Xago’s Chief Revenue Officer. “As an EU-licensed entity, NGPES brings solid regulatory expertise and access to European markets. This integration will enhance our EU digital payment corridor and expand our geographic footprint. This partnership is especially timely as Xago’s transaction volume has surpassed $1 billion and continues to grow. We are confident this collaboration will provide our clients with even greater speed, reliability, and cost savings.”
The partnership between NGPES and Xago represents a significant step forward in the evolution of cross-border payments, combining regulatory excellence, technological innovation, and global reach to deliver a next-generation financial infrastructure.
NGPES is a payment infrastructure powered by EU-regulated stablecoins, with IBAN-linked custodial wallets, native euro on/off-ramps, and seamless payments via SEPA and blockchain.
By redesigning how liquidity is accessed, routed and controlled across borders, NGPES enables businesses to leverage new payment capabilities that deliver measurable operational value. NGPES has been recognized in The Fintech 100 (France) – the annual ranking of the most promising French fintech and insurtech companies.
Xago Technologies was established in 2016 in Cape Town to build faster, compliant cross-border payment infrastructure using the XRP Ledger (“XRPL”) and fiat-backed stablecoins. The company has from inception emphasised speed, security, and regulatory alignment as core design principles. Today, the group operates through Xago Technologies (Pty) Ltd in South Africa and its wholly owned subsidiary, Xago Australia Pty Ltd. The Australian entity was incorporated during 2024 and is formally registered with AUSTRAC as a Digital Currency Exchange (“DCE”), extending Xago’s regulatory footprint into the Asia-Pacific region.
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