We Are Positioned To Ensure Smooth Payments Under African Trade Agreement

The Group Chief Executive Officer, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), Mr. Ade Ayeyemi, has affirmed that the pan-African banking group is facilitating smooth and instant payments across Africa as countries start the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA).

Ayeyemi who made this declaration in an interview, said Ecobank has been able to effect international payments across the 33 countries where it operates on the continent through its Rapid Transfer platform, stressing that the bank’s platform can be scaled to accommodate other African countries under the AfCFTA based on their respective regulations.

The Ecobank Group Chief said that the bank was one of the key supporters of the AfCFTA which he believes will be of great benefit to both the continent and customers of the bank. “With this Pan-African exposure, the governments and our customers will re-evaluate their businesses to efficiently take charge of bigger opportunities”, he explained.

Ayeyemi continued: “If you manufacture goods in Aba for the Nigerian market, you can now start thinking of how to expand your manufacturing capacity to be able to export across West Africa and also other African countries, not just looking at Nigeria as a market alone. And as you change your demand forecast, you need to now improve your capacity to produce and that will mean importing new machinery to expand your manufacturing base, develop bigger market and hire more people.”

He is optimistic that the introduction of the AfCFTA would curb the regulations and government policies limiting the flow of foreign exchange, explaining that, “Banks will work with other banks like Afrexim Bank to provide a swift payment platform as Africa will be the first market for most African products. For instance, there is no need for Nigeria to import rubber from Malaysia when rubber is being exported by Côte d’Ivoire. It is better within the African space. So, there is a whole range of businesses that we are having conversations with our customers, the governments and the African Union, because of our pan-African presence.”

African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement, AfCFTA, came into effect this month, and it aims at creating a single African wide market for goods and services. It will pave the way for rapid dismantling of impediments to cross-border trade, leading to free movement of business, persons and investments across the continent, thus leading to the establishment of the Customs Union.

Bringing together all the 55 African Union member states, covering a market of more than 1.2 billion people, AfCFTA is set to be the world’s largest free trade area in terms of numbers of participating countries, since the formation of the World Trade Organization, WTO, in 1995.