Banks must go beyond traditional lending products and provide more flexible, structured trade solutions if African businesses are to take advantage of growing cross-border trade opportunities, a Corporate Banking Director at Absa Bank Tanzania, Nellyana Mmanyi, has said.
Mmanyi made the call in a statement on Wednesday made available to Pinnacle Daily.
She stated that shifting global trade patterns, driven by geopolitical tensions and changing supply chains, are creating new opportunities for Africa, particularly East Africa, but businesses still face major obstacles in operating across borders.
She noted that companies are diversifying sourcing, reshaping trade routes and seeking greater resilience in their supply chains, increasing the need for stronger banking support.
“Converting this moment into meaningful growth will depend on reducing friction, improving access to trade finance and enabling businesses to move with speed and certainty,” she said. “This is where banks can play a fundamental role.”
According to Mmanyi, businesses across Africa continue to struggle with logistical bottlenecks, customs delays, regulatory fragmentation, foreign exchange volatility and limited access to trade finance, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises.
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“While there is demand for their goods, they struggle with execution across borders,” she said.
She added that poor infrastructure, including inefficient ports, rail systems, weak road networks and high inland transport costs, continues to hinder trade execution across the continent.
Against this backdrop, Mmanyi said financial institutions must reposition themselves from simply providing transactions to becoming full trade enablers.
“To be successful in a competitive market, banks must differentiate themselves by moving beyond transactions to end-to-end trade enablement,” she said.
She explained that corporate clients increasingly want integrated banking support that combines financing, foreign exchange solutions and regional market expertise.
“At Absa, we are seeing growing demand from corporates for integrated cross-border banking support that combines trade finance, foreign exchange solutions and regional market expertise,” Mmanyi said.
“Clients are looking not just for funding, but for banking partners that can help them navigate increasingly complex trade corridors with speed and certainty.”
According to her, this changing demand means banks can no longer rely only on conventional products such as letters of credit and overdraft facilities.
“Banks must therefore offer not just vanilla letters of credit, or overdraft facilities, but flexible trade finance and structured trade solutions,” she said.
Mmanyi stressed that speed is becoming a key competitive advantage in trade finance and cross-border banking.
“Speed as a differentiator is critical. Ultimately the bank that moves fastest wins the client,” she said.
Looking ahead, she said Africa’s ability to strengthen its role in global trade will depend on factors including faster implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), improved infrastructure, stronger access to capital, industrialisation and better coordination among governments, banks and the private sector.
She added that Africa, especially East Africa, has a strong opportunity to establish itself not only as a major market but also as a production and trade hub connecting global economies.
“Success won’t be automatic,” Mmanyi said. “It will depend on the speed of execution, access to capital and the ability of banking institutions to actively enable clients across the trade value chain.”
“The opportunity is real, but it won’t wait.”
Alex is a business journalist cum data enthusiast with the Pinnacle Daily. He can be reached via ealex@thepinnacleng.com, @ehime_alex on X