Ghana International Bank (GHIB) is set to host its inaugural ‘CNVERGE’ conference, a high-level thought leadership event in London from the 5th to the 9th of August 2024.

The event is aimed at fostering dialogue and collaboration on the future of African international trade banking.

It will bring together leaders, innovators, and stakeholders from across the continent to explore transformative ideas and strategies trade finance, as a sustainable alternative to debt-driven economic models. The theme for the inaugural conference is “The Risk/Opportunity Interplay for African Trade.”

Leading economic experts are convinced that achieving a sustainable future of rapid and inclusive prosperity for Africa hinges on trade. Available statistics indicate that increasing trade for Africa will unlock about $70 billion of value to the continent. It is this viewpoint that led to the final actualization of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA) protocols with its headquarters in Accra, Ghana.

GHIB is aligned with this premise and is of the strong view that scaling up the value of African international trade will lead to exponential developmental benefits. There are, however, several challenges that hinder the achievement of said growth. Africa persistently lag behind the rest of the world recording a low 3% of global trade.

The AfCTA process, though charged with a lot of momentum, has still not made significant breakthrough. Trade finance, which is key to lubricating and financing trade for the continent, remains a significant problem.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) estimates that the trade finance gap for the continent is about $81 billion. Additionally, Africa is persistently ranked as a high-risk trading environment leading to increased cost for the key financial instruments needed to facilitate trade i.e., international trade finance, correspondent banking, cross-border payments and treasury solutions.

GHIB, through its CNVERGE conference, is actualising its aspiration to be part of the critical conversations towards addressing these challenges and shaping the future through addressing and solving some of these challenges. GHIB, which is considered one of the first pan-African trading financial institutions in the City of London, is uniquely placed to drive and lead the way in these conversations.

In his comments on the conference, Dean Adansi, Chief Executive Officer at GHIB and the convener of the CNVERGE conference noted that, “We have been focused on Africa since 1959 and have developed a deep well of experience as regards Africa, especially of the West Coast and increasingly with markets in Central and East Africa. In these 65 years, we have thrived in providing trade finance, correspondent banking, treasury and cross-border solutions to the continent. Our successes thus far are based on the prudent leverage of our status as a City of London bank and our discipline and rigorous application of best practice and risk models in pursuing value for the bank and our clients in and for Africa.”

“CNVERGE has thus been constructed to tap into this experience and leverage our network of partners, customers, clients and indeed even competitors, so that we can begin a sustained series of regular roundtables to deliberate, brainstorm and propose new ideas towards growing African trade. For instance, this particular CNVERGE will empanel experts to discuss some very interesting topics as regards harmonized standards on financial crime for the continent and also digitizing trade finance operations towards more speedy and successful outcomes,” he added.

CNVERGE is scheduled to take place between the 5^th and 9^th of August 2024 at the Westin Hotel in the City of London. Key notes are expected to be delivered by the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, representatives from central banks in The Gambia and Sierra Leone. The CONVERGE production team indicates that at least 30 organizations from across the continent are scheduled to attend this edition of the conference.