Egypt’s Commercial International Bank (CIB) has made notable progress in developing digital infrastructure. The bank recently rolled out a mobile banking application for SME clients combining payments, cash management and credit visibility. CIB has also expanded API-based connectivity, allowing corporates to initiate payments, retrieve balances and receive transaction updates directly within their own systems.
These improvements reflect the rising expectations of Egypt’s corporate clients, who are undertaking their own digital transformation. The country’s firms increasingly demand real-time liquidity visibility, faster payment execution and automated reconciliation processes across large transaction volumes. “They expect banking services to connect directly with treasury and ERP systems, enabling real-time data access and more efficient workflows,” says Islam Zekry, Group Chief Finance and Operation Officer and Executive Board Member.
Banks across the African continent are expanding their digital capabilities, but the issue of integrating these capabilities across different systems can still be challenging. At a basic level, integrating bank services is not as complex as it used to be, largely because of APIs, says Pelumi Arogundade, co-founder of treasury platform Salmnine.
APIs provide direct access to services such as balance checks and payment initiation, reducing the need to log into multiple banking platforms or navigate repeated verification processes. They also enable real-time visibility of account positions at the level of individual banks. “Complex banking logic is abstracted and exposed in a way that is relatively easy to consume,” says Pelumi.
But in practice, operational challenges remain a significant factor. “Bureaucracy and slow response times are a real issue,” Arogundade says. “Simple requests, such as updating API access, can take far longer than expected.”
Emmanuel Ojo, chief executive of payments and energy technology firm Redtech, lists several common factors that lead to integration failures, including inconsistent data structures, weak documentation and fragmented ownership across teams. “System integrations usually break down not at the strategy stage, but at the execution phase,” says Ojo.
In many African markets, system integrations are still too bespoke, so instead of plugging into a standardised framework, institutions are forced to rebuild the same connectivity logic repeatedly. This lack of standardisation is particularly visible in API development across different banks and markets.
“There has definitely been progress,” Ojo says, but “API maturity remains uneven.” The challenge is not simply whether APIs exist, but whether they are “well-documented, stable, scalable, and commercially usable for enterprise-grade deployment.”
Core constraints
For corporates operating across multiple banking relationships, this inconsistency creates additional complexity. “One bank may offer real-time transaction updates, sandbox support and clear developer onboarding; another may offer limited endpoints, inconsistent uptime and weak documentation,” says Ojo.
These differences have direct implications for treasury operations. Payment reliability, transaction visibility and reconciliation are not minor operational issues – they are critical enablers of liquidity and risk management. Where systems fall short, finance teams rely on manual processes, reducing speed and limiting real-time decision-making. Pelumi highlights similar constraintsfrom the perspective of corporates managing multiple accounts and banking relationships.
“Real-time visibility of cash positions and transaction reconciliation is still a major constraint,” she says. The issue is particularly acute for large corporates operating across multiple countries, where accounts are spread across different banks and jurisdictions.
While individual banks may offer strong digital platforms, these typically operate in isolation. “Many banks have built strong digital tools that improve transparency and automation for their own data,” she says. “The real limitation is that these platforms do not work across banks.”
As a result, corporates continue to face fragmented visibility. “What corporates actually need is a single view of their positions across all banks in one place,” Pelumi adds. Without this, reconciliation remains complex and incomplete.
CIB, for example, is addressing this by expanding API-based connectivity, with a focus on embedding services directly into client systems rather than relying on standalone platforms.
Despite the limitations, there have been clear improvements in specific areas of corporate banking. On the reporting side, APIs have enabled the development of tools that retrieve and present banking data more efficiently. On the payments side, bulk payout capabilities allow corporates to process large volumes of transactions through a single workflow, rather than managing individual approvals for each payment.
“In terms of cash management, treasury teams can now build dashboards that provide real-time visibility of liquidity across multiple banks, as long as there are active integrations in place,” Pelumi says.
Progress has been slower in other areas, particularly where processes remain manual or constrained by external factors. Foreign exchange is one example. While corporates can often view exchange rates through digital platforms, execution frequently still relies on manual processes such as email requests or interaction with relationship managers. Liquidity constraints and limited availability of certain currencies further restrict flexibility, particularly in less liquid markets.
Cross-border payments present similar challenges. Differences in regulation across countries, combined with reliance on correspondent banking networks and systems such as SWIFT, can introduce delays and reduce predictability.
None of these challenges are insurmountable, but fragmentation across markets, systems and standards makes bringing cutting-edge digital services to Africa’s corporates a far harder task.
