Pan-African lender Ecobank is in talks with Bank of China to launch a direct local-currency-to-yuan settlement product by the end of 2026, in a move that would allow African businesses to pay Chinese suppliers without routing transactions through the US dollar.
Ecobank Chief Executive Jeremy Awori disclosed the talks on Monday, April 21, citing rising trade and commercial ties between Africa and China as the driver behind the initiative.
“We are looking at opportunities for us to settle with, instead of going through the dollar, we do it directly with the Chinese yuan,” Awori told Reuters. “You need the right tools and payment mechanisms to be able to do that. We’re investing in those.”
For African traders sourcing goods from China, the current system requires converting local currency into dollars and then into yuan, a two-step process that increases banking fees and erodes profit margins.
The move reflects the scale of current trade dynamics. Chinese exports to Africa rose 26 percent to 225 billion US dollars in 2025, contributing to a record 348 billion dollars in total China-Africa trade. Beijing also signed approximately 39 billion dollars in new contracts in 2025, making it the largest bilateral investor in Africa by new flows.
Ecobank, which operates across 35 African markets, had already signed a memorandum of understanding with Bank of China’s Mauritius unit in December 2025 to expand trade finance, payments, and renminbi capabilities.
Ecobank is not alone in making this shift. South Africa’s Standard Bank said in November it had been authorised to offer transactions through China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS), making the yuan the underlying settlement currency for its clients. Afreximbank has also joined CIPS, which is processing a rapidly growing volume of Africa-China transactions.
Awori said natural resource sectors were a key factor, pointing to China’s significant interests and investments in energy, mining, oil and gas across the continent.
On its broader financial position, Ecobank said it is making significant investments this year in its ATM network, data centres, and digital lending platforms, and has partnered with Google to upgrade its payments systems. The bank is also resuming dividend payments for the first time since 2022, following stronger revenue and profit growth in 2025. Its corporate and investment banking unit posted a 40 percent rise in pretax profit, supported by sovereign debt restructuring mandates in Gabon and Benin and a financing deal in Uganda worth more than 200 million euros with South Africa’s Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA).
Experts caution that regulatory alignment, liquidity management, and currency convertibility will be critical to the success of any direct yuan settlement system. No final agreement has been reached, and Awori said global macroeconomic uncertainty made the outlook difficult to predict.
