This week, Nium, a global infrastructure for real-time cross-border payments, announced a partnership with Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, an independent pan-African financial services group, 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 banking operations, empowering Ecobank to enhance its services for 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.
Through this partnership, customers across the region will benefit from an enhanced payments experience that allows faster and more efficient cross-border transactions, unlocking new opportunities for SMEs to connect with global markets.
Anupam Pahuja, general manager and executive vice president for APAC, Middle East and Africa at Nium, said, “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.”
“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,” said Jeremy Awori, CEO of Ecobank Group.
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.
Nium said the partnership also aligns with its broader strategy to enhance global financial inclusion, enabling access to real-time payments in regions where traditional banking systems may be slow or unreliable.
