Regional banks in Africa are developing internationally orientated and increasingly sophisticated transaction services platforms; often, as at Equity Bank, to service corporate and small and medium-sized enterprise clients trading across borders. Ecobank, meanwhile, is bolstering its business with partnerships including part-owners Qatar National Bank and Nedbank, as well as with regional telecoms companies and payments firms like Flutterwave.
But as a transaction services bank in Africa, especially sub-Saharan Africa – where the treasury and trade solutions business is headed by Esther Chibesa – Citi remains hard to beat.
And the bank is not resting on its laurels: it is nurturing relationships with multinationals on the continent, as well as with regional clients, of which it counts 800, including local corporates, financial institutions and government entities. The business this year ranged from structuring supply chain finance for Safaricom in Kenya, to providing trade finance to cotton farmers in Togo and helping automate annuity payments by Sanlam Life Insurance.