Standard Bank has moved more than $1 billion through China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System in the space of a single year, a sign of how fast trade between Africa and China now moves.
The lender, Africa’s largest bank by assets, became the first bank on the continent authorised to process transactions through CIPS. It received approval in June 2025 at the Lujiazui Forum in Shanghai and has since carried over CNY 8 billion, roughly $1.2 billion, through the system. What started in South Africa has already spread to Angola, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho and Tanzania, giving clients across several major trade corridors quicker, cheaper renminbi settlement.
What CIPS Does And Why It Matters
CIPS lets banks and financial institutions clear and settle payments directly in renminbi. That cuts out the intermediary currencies, usually the US dollar, that normally sit between an African exporter and a Chinese buyer. Fewer steps mean fewer fees and less time waiting for funds to land.
“The payment system’s rapid scale is clear,” said Ontiretse Modise, Standard Bank’s Head of Payments for Corporate and Investment Banking. “Surpassing CNY 8 billion in transaction flows within the first year reflects strong demand for seamless trade with the world’s second-largest economy.”
Modise said the bank now plans to extend CIPS access to more African countries by the end of 2026, building on what he called Standard Bank’s “world-class payments capabilities” to unlock further cross-border transactions and deepen trade corridors for clients.
Who Benefits from Standard Bank’s Cross-Border Expansion in Africa?
China Remains Africa’s Biggest Trading Partner
Bilateral trade between China and Africa hit a record $295 billion in 2024, with Chinese imports into Africa reaching $178 billion against African exports to China of $117 billion. That momentum has carried into 2025: Chinese customs figures show trade rising 12.4% in the first five months of the year to around $134 billion.
Standard Bank’s own research backs this up. The bank’s Africa Trade Barometer, drawn from a survey of 2,218 businesses across ten African markets between September and October 2025, found that Asian countries were cited as the preferred partners by 35% of surveyed businesses on average, up from 24% in the previous survey.
China maintained its dominance as the leading source of inputs for 67% of surveyed businesses. North America, by contrast, remained the least preferred partner at just 4%, weighed down by high shipping costs and the expiry of the African Growth and Opportunity Act.
Businesses surveyed for the barometer pointed to competitive pricing, product variety and reliable supply chains as the main reasons they keep buying from China. The barometer also found Asia held its position as the primary source of inputs for 59% of surveyed importers, underlining how entrenched the relationship has become across the continent, not just in the handful of markets where CIPS now operates.
A Wider Shift Toward Digital Settlement
The rise of CIPS sits inside a broader move toward digital cross-border payments across Africa. Standard Bank’s barometer found that digital payment methods now facilitate 78% of cross-border sales and 79% of cross-border purchases among surveyed businesses, driven by faster processing, better security and a desire to manage currency swings. That trend has been reinforced by continental infrastructure such as the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System, which is beginning to link up with national payment networks to enable local currency settlement.
Regional awareness of the African Continental Free Trade Area also climbed to 50% among surveyed businesses, up from 45% in the prior survey, pointing to a continent that is simultaneously deepening ties with China and strengthening trade within its own borders.
Standard Bank’s Read On What Comes Next
For Modise, the CIPS rollout is only the opening move. “As the payments landscape rapidly evolves, we are actively shaping its next phase,” he said. “We see CIPS as a critical enabler of this transformation, strengthening Africa’s connectivity to global markets. We are confident this payment system will play a pivotal role in accelerating trade flows and supporting the continent’s continued growth.”
With CIPS access already live in six markets and more planned before the end of 2026, Standard Bank is betting that faster renminbi settlement will keep pulling African exporters and importers closer to their biggest trading partner, even as businesses across the continent hedge their bets by building stronger links with each other too.
