Ecobank and its MD, Akinwuntan The Managing Director, Ecobank Nigeria, Patrick Akinwuntan has reiterated that the Pan African bank remains the payment gateway for Africa. Akinwuntan who was speaking on the topic “Optimizing sustainable trade, investment and regional economic integration through effective partnerships between ECOWAS institutions and regional institutions and the organized private sector” at a webinar organised by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) to commemorate the 46 th anniversary of ECOWAS on Monday, stated that the bank’s state of the art digital payment and collection platform is promoting trade and commerce across the African continent.
According to him, Ecobank is present in all ECOWAS member states, stressing that the bank will continue to leverage its knowledge, footprint, and payment channels to promote trade and economic activities through its unique and large pan-African network that positions it to support businesses at all levels. He noted that “naturally for us as a Pan African bank, we are set up to support the economic integration and development of Africa. We have the commitment, capacity and network to support the realization of that objective. We have a platform that leverages technology which enables businesses within ECOWAS to operate as one market. In terms of payment and collection, we have just one banking platform that serves an entire industry. If you are an individual and you open an account and get our Mobile app, you have access to the 33 countries where we operate, and you can transact across these countries. It is a payment switch that ensures payment without going through SWIFT but ensures instant value across the network. For businesses, we have Omni platform, which is a web-based payment platform that enables you to first see your position across the 33 countries and make instant payment.”
Mr. Akinwuntan added that Ecobank is also providing access to market without language barriers; building capacity of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), and empowering women through various products such as the highly innovative Ellevate, a woman focused package targeting at least 40milion women owned business in the MSME space across Africa, by supporting them to become big businesses. “We provide access to the market, we know the continent, we know the sub-region and ECOWAS, this is part of what we offer at Ecobank. When you discuss with us in Ecobank, we are able to translate into the language you understand. Our financial statements […]