Nairobi, Sept. 9 -- East Africa has made remarkable progress in removing barriers to the movement of goods and people. Today, a truck leaving the Port of Mombasa can travel through regional transport corridors to Kampala, Kigali and beyond far more efficiently than it could a generation ago. Border procedures have been streamlined, customs systems modernised and tariffs reduced.

Yet one of the most important elements of regional integration remains trapped in the past -- moving money across East Africa.

A payment between neighbouring countries can still pass through financial centres in London, New York or Dubai before reaching its destination just a few hundred kilometres away.

While goods and people increasingly move across our borde...