XTransfer, a leading China-based B2B cross-border trade payment platform, and Ecobank Group, a leading pan-African bank, have entered into a strategic partnership to enhance cross-border trade for African SMEs.
This collaboration addresses key challenges faced by African businesses in international trade, such as high transaction costs and difficulties in accessing foreign exchange.
Key Benefits for African SMEs
- Simplified Cross-Border Payments: The partnership will facilitate seamless cross-border payments for African SMEs, enabling them to make and receive payments in their local currencies and mitigating the impact of foreign exchange fluctuations.
- Enhanced Access to Global Markets: By leveraging Ecobank’s extensive African network and XTransfer’s global reach, the partnership will connect African SMEs with new markets and facilitate trade with Chinese businesses.
- Reduced Transaction Costs: This collaboration aims to reduce the cost of international trade for African SMEs, making them more competitive in the global market.
“This partnership represents a significant milestone for XTransfer,” stated Bill Deng, Founder and CEO of XTransfer.
“Leveraging Ecobank’s extensive payment network in Africa will accelerate our business expansion and create significant opportunities for African SMEs.”
Jeremy Awori, CEO of Ecobank Group, emphasised the strategic importance of the partnership: “By integrating XTransfer’s cutting-edge solutions with our pan-African platform, we simplify payments, reduce transaction costs, and enable African businesses to thrive in global trade.”
This collaboration aligns with Ecobank’s strategic objective of driving financial integration across Africa and fostering economic growth.
By addressing the challenges faced by African SMEs in international trade, this partnership will contribute significantly to the continent’s economic development.
Ecobank and Afreximbank Collaborate to Simplify Trade and Compliance
In December, the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and Ecobank Group embarked on a collaboration aimed at simplifying trade and compliance for businesses in Africa by integrating Ecobank’s Single Market Trade Hub and Afreximbank’s MANSA Digital Repository Platform.
With the collaboration, African businesses will benefit from seamless shared services across the two platforms, with users of the Single Market Trade Hub able to easily leverage MANSA’s comprehensive database for efficient know-thy-customer (KYC) and customer due diligence (CDD) checks.
The Ecobank Single Market Trade Hub connects registered businesses across Africa on a single platform, helping them benefit from opportunities in the unified market of 1.4 billion people created by the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).
The MANSA Digital Repository Platform, or MANSA, is a one-stop-shop for due diligence matters on all African entities. As a centralized digital repository, MANSA seeks to eliminate information asymmetry and to increase intra-African trade and trade with the rest of the world.
The new collaboration is enabling Ecobank and Afreximbank to provide a central solution to the key challenge of KYC compliance and access to business across 35 countries in Africa.
The improved interoperability is expected to further streamline cross-border trade and compliance in Africa, fostering greater financial and economic integration on the continent.
