Stanbic Bank Ghana and RD Technologies are preparing a regulated pilot concept that would use stablecoin infrastructure to settle business-to-business payments from Ghana to suppliers in Asia, placing a local bank at the center of customer onboarding, compliance, transaction approvals and local-currency settlement.
The initiative remains subject to a regulatory no-objection, and the companies have not yet launched a live payment service. Their next steps are discussions with relevant regulators, technical validation and the design of a controlled pilot operating model.
The proposed arrangement targets a persistent difficulty for Ghanaian businesses buying goods or services from Asian suppliers. Such payments can pass through several banks and correspondent networks before reaching a supplier, adding processing time, fees and administrative work. Each additional intermediary can also make it more difficult for a business to trace the status of a payment or resolve a delay.
Stanbic and RD are assessing whether stablecoins can operate in the settlement layer of that process while corporate clients continue to deal with their bank rather than directly managing digital assets. The model would combine digital-asset payment rails with the customer controls expected in conventional banking relationships.
Stanbic would retain banking and compliance responsibilities
Under the concept outlined by the companies, Stanbic Bank Ghana would serve as the customer-facing institution. The bank would open accounts, conduct know-your-customer checks, approve transactions and handle settlement in local currency. It would also maintain local compliance oversight and apply its own risk-assessment standards to participating clients and payments.
That structure would give Stanbic control over the parts of the payment journey most closely linked to its regulated banking role. Business customers would be introduced to the proposed service through the bank and would remain subject to its usual onboarding and transaction-approval processes.
Mireku, head of strategy enablement at Stanbic Bank Ghana, said the design and testing process would be guided by customer needs, compliance and risk management as the parties engage regulators.
RD Technologies would supply the payment technology, digital-asset infrastructure and connections to its Asian settlement network. The company would also coordinate settlement on the overseas side of the proposed payment flow.
Stablecoins would be used behind the scenes for cross-border settlement rather than as a customer-facing substitute for bank accounts. A stablecoin is a digital token designed to maintain a stable value, generally by referencing a currency or another reserve asset. In this case, the companies are considering its use as a mechanism to transfer value between payment providers across borders.
The distinction has practical consequences. Businesses would not need to build internal systems for holding or moving stablecoins if the pilot follows the structure described by the companies. Stanbic’s controls would instead determine which customers can participate, what transactions are approved and how Ghanaian cedi payments are handled locally.
Regulatory engagement will determine whether a pilot proceeds
The companies said they will form a joint project team to conduct technical tests and finalise the pilot’s operating model if they receive a regulatory no-objection. The planned tests would examine whether the technology can support the proposed settlement process while meeting the operational, compliance and risk requirements expected of a bank-led service.
Liu, chief executive of RD Technologies, said the coming phase will focus on regulatory engagement, technical validation and the development of a controlled pilot.
A no-objection would not amount to unrestricted approval for stablecoin payments in Ghana. It would allow the companies to move into a limited test environment, where participants, transaction flows and controls could be defined before any broader commercial deployment is considered.
That phased approach reflects the challenges of connecting digital-asset infrastructure to traditional cross-border banking. A settlement system must do more than move value quickly. It must also provide reliable records, clear responsibility for payment execution, screening procedures and processes for handling exceptions such as rejected transfers or incorrect supplier details.
For Ghanaian importers, the appeal of the model would rest on whether it reduces friction without shifting operational complexity onto the customer. A stablecoin-based settlement rail could shorten the chain between a local bank and an overseas payment network, but its usefulness would depend on pricing, settlement reliability, foreign-exchange handling and the willingness of suppliers in Asia to receive payments through the connected network.
Links to China and Hong Kong add to the project’s cross-border focus
Stanbic Bank Ghana said it has operated in the country for more than 26 years and was established in 1999. It is a subsidiary of Standard Bank Group, which operates across 20 countries and describes itself as Africa’s largest bank by assets.
Standard Bank Group is licensed as a direct participant in China’s cross-border interbank payment system, according to the companies’ statement. The group also said Industrial and Commercial Bank of China holds a 20% shareholding in Standard Bank Group.
Those connections provide context for a project focused on payments from Ghana to Asian suppliers, particularly where trade relationships require settlement across several currencies and banking networks. They do not, on their own, establish that the proposed pilot will connect directly to China’s payment system, and the companies have described RD’s Asian settlement network as the overseas settlement component.
RD Technologies said it is an early participant in the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s stablecoins issuer sandbox, a programme through which the authority engages with prospective stablecoin issuers and examines proposed business models. RD also said it has raised more than $90 million in cumulative funding.
The proposed pilot would test a narrower proposition than a public stablecoin launch: whether a Ghanaian bank can use digital-asset infrastructure within its existing compliance framework to support corporate trade payments. Its progress now depends on whether regulators are comfortable allowing that infrastructure to be tested under controlled conditions.
Interested in stablecoins and cross-border settlements? Explore why they matter in Asia in this detailed guide for deeper context.
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