Ecobanks targets real-time cross-border payments through Nium partnership

An African man looking at his laptop while holding his bank card.

Ecobank can exchange its existing SwiftMT & ISO20022 messages with Nium to initiate payments on the real-time platform. (Image source: Adobe Stock)

Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, a leading pan-African financial services group, has partnered with Nium, a global infrastructure for real-time cross-border payments, in order to unlock seamless cross-border payments across African markets

Targeting 35 African markets across the continent as well as 32 million customers, the new initiative is aiming to enable faster, more efficient international payments for business and consumers.

“We are thrilled to partner with Ecobank and introduce Nium’s cutting-edge real-time payment capabilities to Africa,” remarked Anupam Pahuja, general manager and executive vice president for APAC, Middle East and Africa at Nium. “This collaboration represents an important step forward in expanding our global payments network, and we are proud to support Ecobank in delivering faster, more efficient payments for its customers across the region.”

Faster payments for African users

As per the agreement, Ecobank’s existing banking operations will be bolstered by the integration of Nium’s real-time payments infrastructure, empowering the financial services group to enhance its services for small- and medium-sized enterprises.

According to the company, it will connect its existing Swift workflows to Nium, thus gaining access to real-time transfers, updates, clearing, settlement, and payment tracking, without the need for complex API integrations.

This development is expected to reduce waiting times for cross-border payments, enabling businesses to make faster payments to more than 220 markets. This will unlock more opportunities for SMEs to connect with global markets.

Jeremy Awori, CEO of Ecobank Group, surmised, “Partnering with Nium allows us to enhance our service offerings and provide our customers with faster, more efficient cross-border payment solutions. By leveraging our unique API-based payment platform, this collaboration is a significant step towards advancing financial inclusion and connectivity across Africa and enabling businesses to thrive in a global marketplace.”