GCB Bank Outlines Post-IATF Path to Powering Africa’s Trade Future
Fresh from the record-breaking Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF 2025) in Algiers, GCB Bank PLC has shared outcomes of its participation and outlined how it intends to translate the event’s momentum into real value for Ghanaian exporters and SMEs (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises).
Speaking in a media debrief, the Bank emphasised three key areas that will drive its future trade strategy:
1. Expanding Financial Inclusion through Fintech Collaboration
GCB announced plans to deepen collaboration with fintech partners to broaden access to finance for SMEs. This aligns with Afreximbank’s push for financial inclusion across Africa, ensuring that smaller businesses; often locked out of mainstream finance to gain affordable, secure, and seamless trade support. Through the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) integration and digital innovations, GCB aims to empower SMEs to transact across borders with ease.
2. Partnerships for Logistics Solutions
Beyond financing, the Bank is engaging strategic partners to address one of the biggest hurdles to intra-African trade: logistics. By working with logistics providers across key African corridors, GCB will help exporters reduce costs, shorten delivery times, and improve the reliability of cross-border trade flows.
3. Driving Market Access through Afreximbank’s Digital Platforms
The Bank also intends to leverage Afreximbank’s digital marketing tools to connect Ghanaian exporters directly to buyers across Africa and beyond. This move will provide SMEs and corporates with greater visibility, open up new trade opportunities, and position Ghana as a competitive player within AfCFTA’s (African Continental Free Trade Area) vast marketplace.
GCB’s Head of SOE and Afro-Asia Unit, Aurelia Baaba Ofori Odame, noted that the IATF outcomes validate the need for African banks to play a stronger role in creating not just financial, but holistic trade solutions. “At Algiers, Africa showed what is possible. Our responsibility now is to turn those opportunities into tangible outcomes for Ghanaian exporters; helping them access finance, logistics, and markets to compete successfully,” she said.
With $48.3 billion worth of deals concluded at IATF 2025 and over 132 countries participating, the fair underscored the scale of Africa’s trade ambition. GCB Bank says it is committed to ensuring Ghanaian businesses are not just participants, but winners in this new continental trade era.
GCB Bank is a leading player in Ghana’s banking industry with 184 branches, 340 ATMs complemented by various innovative digital solutions. With the largest branch network in Ghana, GCB Bank is closely associated with hundreds of communities where the Bank not only offers day-to-day financial services but also provides the needed social support.
As Ghana’s premier indigenous bank, GCB has since its establishment in 1953, contributed significantly to helping individuals, SMEs, corporates and institutions to achieve financial wellbeing and meet their banking needs. The Bank’s relationship with its clients and other stakeholders is delivered on a platform of trust, support and collaboration and anchored through its brand promise, “Your Bank for Life”.
