Stanbic Bank Ghana and RD Technologies are exploring stablecoin payments to help Ghanaian businesses pay their suppliers in Asia, TechTrendsKE reported on 21 October. The partners are working toward a regulated pilot for business-to-business trade settlement.
Paying a factory in Asia is often slow and opaque for a Ghanaian importer, with several intermediaries in the chain adding time, cost and uncertainty about where the money is. The proposal tests whether a stablecoin, a token pegged to a currency such as the US dollar, can handle the settlement in the middle while the customer's bank stays in charge.
Who does what
- Stanbic Bank Ghana: customer onboarding, account opening, know-your-customer checks, transaction approval and local-currency settlement
- Stanbic also handles local compliance, so customers stay inside their existing banking relationship
- RD Technologies: the payment technology, digital-asset infrastructure and its settlement network in Asia
- The stablecoin: the settlement layer underneath
"Reliable and efficient payments are essential for Ghanaian businesses engaged in international trade," said Darwin Mireku, head of strategy enablement at Stanbic Bank Ghana. The aim, he said, is to assess how new technology can help customers "settle legitimate trade payments with suppliers in Asia more smoothly".
RD Technologies chief executive Rita Liu said the next phase would focus on "regulatory engagement, technical validation and the design of a controlled pilot".
How far away it is
Not close. The partners plan to set up a project team once they have regulatory clearance, and any implementation needs a regulatory no-objection. They have not named the stablecoin, set a launch date or said when businesses could start using the service. Stanbic would bring eligible businesses into the pilot through its usual onboarding and risk checks.
