Nium has announced a partnership with Ecobank Transnational to enable cross-border payments across 35 African markets for more than 32-million customers.
Nium’s real-time payments infrastructure will be integrated into Ecobank’s existing banking operations, letting Ecobank 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.
Anupam Pahuja, GM and executive vice-president for APAC, Middle East and Africa at Nium, says: “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.”
Jeremy Awori, CEO of Ecobank Group, comments: “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.”
Ecobank can exchange its existing SwiftMT & ISO20022 messages with Nium to initiate payments on the real-time platform, accelerating business growth and improving the speed and accuracy of cross-border payments for African businesses.