The leading pan-African Banking Group, Ecobank Group, has simplified collections across Africa through RapidCollect™. RapidCollect™ enables Ecobank’s business customers to receive payments from their clients in their home country and across Ecobank’s network of 33 affiliates, instantly and at a lower cost than any other current cross-border solution.

RapidCollect™ caters for the needs of business customers across Africa, as the continent is at a unique point in its history. Immense trade, investment and economic growth opportunities are driven by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)’s creation of a single African market. The Economic Commission for Africa has forecast that the AfCFTA will boost intra-African trade by about 40% .

Commenting on the development ; Josephine Anan-Ankomah, Group Executive, Commercial Banking, Ecobank said : “With the African Continental Free Trade Area offering untold trading growth opportunities for Africa’s businesses, it is imperative that the payment and collection infrastructure proactively caters for the needs of our continent’s small and medium sized businesses by facilitating their cross-border trade. Ecobank’s Rapid-Collect™ further advances our determination to remove intra-African trade barriers by providing a fast, innovative, secure, hassle-free and reliable collection solution for our SME customers which leverages the collective scale and strength of our 33-country pan-African network”.

Isaac Kamuta, Group Head, Payment services, Cash Management and client access, Ecobank Group added : “The launch of RapidCollect™ reaffirms our leadership as the Best Bank for Cash Management in Africa. It provides a fast, innovative, secure, and reliable solution for our customers which leverages the collective scale and strength of our 33-country pan-African network. Our customers only need an Ecobank account in their home country – rather than needing an account in every country in which they trade. It removes the delays previously inherent in cross-border business payments and addresses the issues created by fluctuating forex rates.”

Through RapidCollect, Ecobank’s Commercial Banking and Corporate and Investment Banking customers benefit from the convenience of one account to receive business payments hassle-free from across our 33-country network, instant payments into their Ecobank account in their home country and across our network as well as automated reconciliation businesses with capabilities to integrate their billing system.

Among others, customers will benefit from secured transactions via Ecobank’s tried and trusted technology and easier cross-border payments to seize opportunities from the AfCFTA’s continent-wide single market.

RapidCollect™ is available at Ecobank branches and it is already integrated into our digital channels. The solution is subject to the regulations in each country.

About Ecobank Transnational Incorporated

Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (‘ETI’) is the parent company of the Ecobank Group, the leading independent pan-African banking group. The Ecobank Group employs about 13,000 people and serves over 32 million customers in the consumer, commercial and corporate banking sectors across 33 African countries.

The Group has a banking licence in France and representative offices in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia ; Johannesburg, South Africa ; Beijing, China ; London, the UK and Dubai, the United Arab Emirates. The Group offers a full suite of banking products, services and solutions including bank and deposit accounts, loans, cash management, advisory, trade, securities, wealth and asset management.

ETI is listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchanges in Lagos, the Ghana Stock Exchange in Accra, and the Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières in Abidjan.

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