XTransfer, Ecobank Group partner to empower African SMEs, foreign trade

XTransfer, a Chinese B2B cross-border trade payment platform, and Ecobank Group have signed a landmark Memorandum of Understanding of Cooperation (MOU) to roll out comprehensive cross-border financial services to Africa’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) engaged in foreign trade.

The collaboration will facilitate trade between China and African countries.

In recent years, China and Africa have continued to deepen trade cooperation, with the scale of imports and exports rising rapidly. In 2023, bilateral trade reached a record US$282 billion. From January to November 2024, China’s exports to Africa totaled US$160 billion, a 1.4% increase from the previous year, while imports from Africa reached US$107 billion, marking a substantial rise of 6.6%.

Despite this growth, African SMEs engaged in foreign trade face numerous challenges related to cross-border payments and fund collections. These challenges include difficulties in opening accounts with traditional banks, a high risk of funds being frozen, difficulties in foreign exchange and related losses, lengthy remittance times, and high remittance costs.

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 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.

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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.”

Jeremy Awori, CEO 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 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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