Ghana International Bank (GHIB) has officially announced a strategic collaboration with Vista Bank Group during the CNVERGE ’25 conference. This partnership aims to enhance access to trade finance across West African markets and strengthen intra-African banking cooperation.
The collaboration was formalised through a signing ceremony in London, designating GHIB as the primary correspondent banking partner for Vista Bank Group’s operations in Gambia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, and Guinea.
This partnership will leverage GHIB’s established global banking relationships to provide Vista Bank’s clients with improved access to international trade finance solutions and cross-border payment services.
Dean Adansi, Chief Executive Officer of GHIB, emphasised the significance of the partnership, stating, “This partnership represents a tangible expression of our commitment to building Africa’s financial infrastructure.
We provide African Banking Groups like VISTA with the critical access for funding, international trade finance, and global payments that allow for expansion and growth. We have kept faith in providing this access to Africa since 1959 and are honoured to now deliver the same to the VISTA Group.”
Vista Bank Group, through Vista Group Holding SA, operates as a pan-African financial services organisation focused on building world-class banking capabilities while promoting economic and financial inclusion across Africa.
The group has a strong presence in multiple West African markets, particularly in small and medium enterprise banking, trade finance, leasing services, and bancassurance products.
Under the partnership framework, GHIB will offer Vista Bank Group correspondent banking services, international credit line access, and sophisticated trade finance instruments.
This ‘TradeBridge’ approach will enable Vista Bank’s clients, particularly small and medium enterprises, to access global markets through established international banking relationships that have historically been challenging for regional African banks to secure independently.
Serge Raymond, Managing Director of Vista Bank France, remarked, “Ghana International Bank has become our gateway to the global financial system.
Where other international banks have been unable to provide the access we need, GHIB has demonstrated a genuine commitment to African development through practical banking solutions.
This partnership enables us to serve the backbone of African economies—the SMEs in Banjul, Dakar, Freetown, Ouagadougou, and Conakry—with world-class trade finance capabilities.”
The collaboration addresses critical market gaps in African trade finance, where regional banks have traditionally struggled to access international credit lines and correspondent banking services.
Through GHIB’s global relationships, Vista Bank Group clients will gain access to essential services such as letters of credit, trade guarantees, foreign exchange services, and international payment processing capabilities necessary for participating in global commodity markets.
This partnership aligns with GHIB’s broader continental expansion strategy, building on its established market presence in Ghana, Gambia, and Guinea to support financial integration across Africa.
GHIB emphasises continental unity, rejecting traditional Francophone-Anglophone divisions in favour of comprehensive African market development.
Adansi stated, “At GHIB, we recognise no artificial divisions within Africa. This partnership with Vista Bank Group demonstrates that African financial institutions can collaborate effectively across linguistic and cultural boundaries to create sophisticated banking solutions that serve our continent’s development priorities.”
The collaboration will utilise GHIB’s existing infrastructure, leveraging the bank’s correspondent relationships with major international financial institutions to provide Vista Bank Group clients with seamless access to global trade finance markets. Initial services will include trade finance facilitation, cross-border payments, foreign exchange services, and credit line access, with additional capabilities to be developed based on market demand.
Both institutions anticipate that the partnership will significantly contribute to trade finance capacity building across West Africa while supporting the broader objectives of African economic integration and financial inclusion.
