Ecobank agrees to join Chinese payment platform
The move follows increasing demand from African businesses to settle deals using China’s currency.
Ecobank has entered into a partnership with China’s payment system, the China Interbank Payments System (CIPS), to facilitate transaction settlements in yuan currency. This move comes as demand from businesses across Africa increases for transacting and settling deals in China’s currency. The Togo-based bank, which operates in 34 African countries, will sign an agreement this month to join CIPS.
South Africa’s Standard Bank and the African Export Import Bank have also recently taken similar steps. The partnership follows a 18% rise in China-Africa trade last year, driven by a surge in the continent's imports of Chinese solar power equipment. China removed tariffs for imports from all African countries except Eswatini in the same year, further strengthening the commercial relationship.
The move also aligns with a push led by the BRICS bloc to challenge the US dollar’s dominance in international trade by increasing bank integrations with China’s payments system.
Brief written by urgent.news from Semafor's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
