Ghana’s Stanbic Bank Pilots Direct Yuan Payments to Bypass US Dollar Bottlenecks
ACCRA, Ghana — In a move toward de-dollarisation, Stanbic Bank Ghana has launched a pilot payment system allowing local businesses to clear transactions with Chinese suppliers directly in yuan (RMB) from their Ghanaian cedi accounts.
The initiative leverages China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS) to create a direct financial corridor, drastically cutting down settlement times and offering relief to enterprises choked by acute US dollar shortages.
For many Ghanaian importers, the traditional reliance on the US dollar has long been a logistical nightmare. Local manufacturing hubs like Amanex Company, which processes and packages goods in Accra, have frequently seen supply chains stall due to the scarcity of American currency.
“We do a lot of transactions in China,” said Eric Amanquanor, CEO of Amanex Company, which imports roughly three containers of raw materials from China every month. “We always have issues with our foreign currency; that is, the United States dollar… It is one of our biggest challenges. If we can transfer the RMB or the yuan to China, and with our local currency, I think it’s better.”
From Five Days to Twenty-Four Hours
By routing transactions through CIPS rather than traditional dollar-clearing mechanisms, Stanbic Bank has dramatically accelerated transaction speeds. The new pipeline successfully reduces the multi-day friction typical of international wire transfers.
“In the past, it used to take about three, four, or five days for payments to arrive at the destination,” explained Musah Abdallah, an executive at Stanbic Bank. “But with this direct interface, we now are able to do it in T+1 [one business day].”
The bank noted that the architecture is built to support two-way flows, facilitating faster payments from China to Ghana by removing redundant currency conversion steps.
A Multi-Polar Payment Landscape
China remains one of Ghana’s primary trading partners, feeding the West African nation’s economy with vital industrial materials, machinery, and consumer goods.
As global trade networks adapt to shifting geopolitical realities, experts view this pilot as an expansion of alternative financial tools rather than an outright replacement of western systems.
“There is a place for CIPS, there’s a place for PAPSS (Pan-African Payment and Settlement System) and there’s a place for SWIFT,” observed Sylvia Sinkari of the Africa-China Centre for Policy and Advisory.
Launched in 2015, CIPS has steadily grown as Beijing seeks to internationalise the yuan. For Ghanaian merchants facing currency volatility, the system offers a practical emergency exit from the dollar standard.
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