News - China’s B2B Trade Platform Partners with Ecobank to Support African SMEs

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China’s B2B Trade Platform Partners with Ecobank to Support African SMEs

Source By Mamsi Nkosi
1 week ago

XTransfer, China’s B2B Cross-Border Trade Payment Platform, and Ecobank Group have signed a Memorandum of Understanding of Cooperation (MOU) to provide comprehensive cross-border financial services to Africa’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) engaged in foreign trade.In recent years, China and Africa have deepened their trade ties, with imports and exports quickly increasing. Bilateral trade will reach a record high of US$282 billion in 2023. From January to November 2024, China’s exports to Africa were US$160 billion, a 1.4% increase over the previous year, while imports from Africa reached US$107 billion, a significant 6.6% increase.

African SMEs in foreign trade face challenges in cross-border payments and fund collections, including difficulties opening accounts with traditional banks, high risk of frozen funds, foreign exchange losses, lengthy remittance times, and high remittance costs.Bill Deng, Founder and CEO of XTransfer, stated, “We are excited about the partnership with Ecobank. This collaboration represents a significant milestone for XTransfer and greatly enhances our global payment capabilities. Leveraging Ecobank’s extensive payment network in Africa will accelerate our business expansion in the region. We are looking forward to the synergies and opportunities this partnership will create. Together, we will drive innovation and improve the financial landscape, making financial services more efficient and accessible for African SMEs.”The partnership between XTransfer and Ecobank Group will foster collaboration between both parties to provide comprehensive cross-border payment solutions for African SMEs’ foreign trade. XTransfer will leverage Ecobank’s extensive network across Africa, enabling its Chinese clients to collect funds in local African currencies while assisting African SMEs in making payments in their local currencies to negate foreign exchange issues.Jeremy Awori, CEO of Ecobank Group, said, “We are proud to partner with XTransfer to advance seamless cross-border payment solutions between Africa and China. This partnership builds on our established strategy, which includes a representative office in China and a dedicated China desk. By integrating XTransfer’s cutting-edge solutions with our pan-African payment platform, we simplify payments, reduce transaction costs, and enable African businesses to thrive in global trade.”The partnership will facilitate trade between SMEs in China and African countries and also streamline foreign trade transactions between African companies and their global partners. Ultimately, this will help reduce the costs of global trade and enhance the global competitiveness of African SMEs.

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