Nium has announced a partnership with Ecobank to facilitate cross-border payments in 35 African markets for more than 32 million customers. Nium’s real-time payments infrastructure will integrate into Ecobank’s current banking operations, empowering the bank to improve its services for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

By linking its existing Swift workflows to Nium, Ecobank will gain access to real-time transfers, updates, clearing, settlement, and payment tracking, while minimising the complexity of API integrations. Quicker transactions for more than 220 markets This integration  is set to decrease waiting times for cross-border payments, allowing businesses to make quicker transactions to over 220 markets, including more than 100 countries with real-time capabilities. Ecobank serves as an  financial partner in sub-Saharan Africa.

Through this collaboration, Ecobank's customers throughout the region will experience an upgraded payment system that facilitates faster and more efficient cross-border transactions, opening new possibilities for SMEs to engage with global markets. Officials from Ecobank announced that their collaboration with Nium enables them to elevate their service offerings and provide faster, more efficient cross-border payment solutions for customers. By using Nium's API-based payment platform, this partnership marks an advancement in promoting financial inclusion and connectivity across Africa, facilitating business growth in the global market.

Ecobank has the capability to exchange its current SwiftMT and ISO20022 messages with Nium, allowing for payment initiation on a real-time platform. This increases business development and significantly improves the speed and accuracy of cross-border transactions for African enterprises. Additionally, this partnership complements Nium's wider strategy to promote global financial inclusion by facilitating access to real-time payments in areas where traditional banking may be slow or unreliable.

Through this collaboration, Ecobank is now equipped to deliver a better cross-border payment experience for its customers, while Nium continues its mission to democratise access to its real-time payments network. Source: Link .