Digital bank built for businesses, Nomba, has expressed concerns about the infrastructure required by African businesses to trade globally, saying its $3 million debt facility through CardinalStone Finance Company Limited will expand its cross-border payments infrastructure from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Cross-border trade is one of the fastest-growing parts of the African economy, but the infrastructure supporting it has not kept pace. Payments get stuck, access to foreign currency is unreliable, and settlement can take days.

To this end, Nomba said the funding would provide more USD liquidity to deploy through its banking relationships in Hong Kong and Singapore, positioning its DRC operations as a base for settling trade between Central Africa and Asia faster.

Nomba processes more than $480 million a month in cross-border payments across its DRC operations and its Canadian-licensed money service business. The company is now targeting more than $1 billion in monthly cross-border volume and is preparing to raise a further $20 million to $50 million in the coming months to facilitate more of these transactions.

Chief Executive Officer of Nomba, Yinka Adewale, said: “African businesses are trading more with the rest of the world every year, but the infrastructure to support that trade is still catching up. This facility gives us more room to move — more liquidity, more corridors, faster settlement. It’s also a strong signal of confidence in what we’re building for the next generation of African businesses. We plan to keep scaling our cross-border infrastructure this year, expanding into new African markets and deepening the payment links between Africa and its trading partners in Asia.”

Meanwhile, Managing Director of CardinalStone Finance, Ayoola Adeola, said: “This transaction reflects our confidence in the growth opportunity presented by cross-border payments, and the role innovative financial infrastructure can play in connecting African businesses to global markets. We are pleased to have structured this $3 million debt facility to support Nomba’s expansion as it builds capacity across key Africa–Asia trade corridors.”