Ecobank, Nium Revolutionise Cross-Border Payments in Africa

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The duo of Ecobank Group and Nium has joined forces to revolutionise cross-border payments in Africa, Business Post has learned.

The lender will leverage the cutting-edge real-time payment capabilities of Nium to its over 32 million customers across 35 African markets.

It was gathered that Nium’s real-time payments infrastructure would be integrated into Ecobank’s existing banking operations, empowering the bank to enhance its services for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Ecobank will connect its existing Swift workflows to Nium, gaining access to real-time transfers, updates, clearing, settlement, and payment tracking, without the need for complex API integrations. This will significantly reduce waiting times for cross-border payments, enabling businesses to make faster payments to over 220 markets, including over 100 countries with real-time capabilities.

The partnership aligns with Nium’s broader strategy to enhance global financial inclusion, enabling access to real-time payments in regions where traditional banking systems may be slow or unreliable.

Through this collaboration, Ecobank is now better equipped to provide an unmatched cross-border payment experience for its customers, while Nium continues its mission to democratize access to the world’s largest real-time payments network.

“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,” the chief executive of Ecobank Group, Mr Jeremy Awori, stated.

“We are thrilled to partner with Ecobank and introduce Nium’s cutting-edge real-time payment capabilities to Africa.

“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,” the General Manager and Executive Vice President for APAC, Middle East and Africa at Nium, Anupam Pahuja, said.

Through this partnership, Ecobank’s customers across the region will benefit from an enhanced payment experience that allows faster and more efficient cross-border transactions, unlocking new opportunities for SMEs to connect with global markets.