XTransfer and Ecobank Group Partner to Empower African Small and Medium-sized Enterprises' (SMEs) Foreign Trade

Zawya

06-02-2025

XTransfer, the world-leading and China's No.1 B2B Cross-Border Trade Payment Platform, and Ecobank Group (www.Ecobank.com), the leading private pan-African financial services group with unrivalled African expertise, 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 totalled 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 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.
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 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.
This partnership aligns with Ecobank's goals of driving financial integration by facilitating seamless cross-border trade, which is the backbone of the continent's economy growth. By collaborating with XTransfer, Ecobank is strengthening its position as a key player in the global payments industry by reducing trade barriers, enabling African SMEs to thrive in international markets and contribute to the continent's sustainable development.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated.
Media Contact:
XTransfer Limited
Maggie NG
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Ecobank Transnational Incorporated
Christiane Bossom
Group Communications
Ecobank Transnational Incorporated
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Web: www.Ecobank.com
About XTransfer:
XTransfer, the world-leading and China's No.1 B2B Cross-Border Trade Payment Platform, is dedicated to providing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with secure, compliant, fast, convenient and low-cost foreign trade payment and fund collection solutions, significantly reducing the cost of global expansion and enhancing global competitiveness. Founded in 2017, the company is headquartered in Shanghai and has branches in Hong Kong SAR, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the United States, Canada, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, the UAE, and Nigeria. XTransfer has obtained local payment licences in Mainland China, Hong Kong SAR, Singapore, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and Australia. With more than 600,000 enterprise clients, XTransfer has become the industry No.1 in China.
By cooperating with well-known multinational banks and financial institutions, XTransfer has built a unified global multi-currency clearing network and built a data-based, automated, internet-based and intelligent anti-money laundering risk control infrastructure centred on SMEs. XTransfer uses technology as a bridge to link large financial institutions and SMEs around the world, allowing SMEs to enjoy the same level of cross-border financial services as large multinational corporations.
XTransfer completed its Series D financing in September 2021 and achieved unicorn status. The Company possesses a diverse composition of international investors, including D1 Capital Partners LP, Telstra Ventures, China Merchants Venture, eWTP Capital, Yunqi Capital, Gaorong Capital, 01VC, MindWorks and Lavender Hill Capital Partners.
For more information, please visit: https://www.XTransfer.com/
About Ecobank:
Ecobank Group is the leading private pan-African banking group with unrivalled African expertise. Present in 35 sub-Saharan African countries, as well as France, the UK, UAE and China, its unique pan-African platform provides a single gateway for payments, cash management, trade and investment. The Group employs over 14,000 people and offers Consumer, Commercial, Corporate and Investment Banking products, services and solutions across multiple channels, including digital, to over 32 million customers.
For further information, please visit www.Ecobank.com