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Insights from Cedar Money's Q1 2026 Webinar
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The infrastructure of global trade is shifting, and for African businesses, the window to position ahead of that shift is now.
On April 28, 2026, Cedar Money brought together Dayo Fagade (Director of Sales, Cedar Money), Somtochukwu Nnajim (Country Manager, Yellow Card Nigeria), and Titilayo Ogunleye (Legal Compliance Lead, Busha) to unpack the forces reshaping cross-border payments. The conversation was moderated by Temitayo Jaiyeola (Senior reporter at TechCabal), and three themes dominated the discussion: compliance as a strategic asset, stablecoins maturing into settlement infrastructure, and the emergence of new trade corridors—particularly the Africa-UAE corridor.
Here are the key takeaways.
The most consistent signal from all three panellists was that compliance has fundamentally changed its role in business.
"Compliance has shifted from being a back office function to a core competitive advantage that directly dictates access to global liquidity and entry speed into new trade corridors," said Ogunleye.
More than just a regulatory observation, it's a market access argument. Businesses that have clean, digital compliance workflows move faster into new corridors, unlock better liquidity, and build the kind of trust that global trade partners require. Fagade noted that, specifically in Nigeria, this shift is enterprise-wide: "A major change in Nigerian cross-border trade is a heightened focus on compliance, not just within the compliance department but across the overall business."
Ogunleye put it plainly: compliance data is the "passport" for global trade. Having it in order pre-approves an organisation for expansion. Cedar Money's registrations under FINTRAC, FinCEN, and the RPAA reflect exactly this logic: compliance built into the business, not just bolted on.
The regulatory conversation in Africa has shifted considerably. Rather than approaching digital assets with blanket scepticism, regulators are now engaging infrastructure providers to co-develop frameworks.
"Regulators in countries like Kenya and South Africa are starting conversations with infrastructure providers like Yellow Card and Cedar to develop comprehensive frameworks," said Nnajim.
Fagade highlighted the underlying logic as regulators seeing stablecoins not as a replacement for fiat, but as a solution to gaps in the traditional system. Essentially, a "plugger" for structural inefficiencies. Kenya, Ghana, and Nigeria are already piloting programs or releasing supportive policies. This signals that stablecoin adoption is becoming policy.
The operational case for stablecoins is straightforward. Traditional correspondent banking can take 5–10 days to settle a cross-border payment. Stablecoins settle in minutes.
"Stable coins serve as the closest equivalent to the USD for cross-border payments, solving challenges in speed and cost associated with traditional models," said Nnnajim.
Ogunleye pointed out that legacy institutions are taking note for practical reasons: "The shift of legacy companies to stable coins is them catching up with innovation, recognizing that stable coins offer speed, reliability, and little human intervention." The use of smart contracts on distributed ledger technology (DLT) embeds compliance checks automatically, simplifying transactions and making life easier for all stakeholders.
For businesses, this clearly signals that stablecoin rails are production-ready. Cedar Money's sub-24-hour settlement model is a direct application of this infrastructure at scale.
The geographic distribution of trade corridors is evolving. China remains the dominant trade partner for Africa, but the UAE is gaining ground quickly, and for structural reasons.
"The stability of currencies, availability of better financing options, and the ability to protect against currency risk are driving African businesses to prioritise corridors like the UAE over direct trade with China," said Fagade.
The UAE is functioning as an aggregator—a hub through which goods previously sourced directly from China or the US now flow more predictably. Nnajim added that stablecoin liquidity in the UAE-Africa corridor is already deep enough for merchants to rely on at scale, alongside Africa-Asia corridors including India, China, and Hong Kong.
Despite progress, fragmentation across African markets continues to slow businesses down. Regulatory frameworks differ by country, licensing requirements stack up, and payment settlement processes are still inconsistent.
"Fragmentation exists not only in markets but also in payment settlement processes, making it critical for African nations to collaborate on regulatory frameworks, particularly for stablecoins," said Nnajim.
Ogunleye pointed to Europe's MiCA regulation as a model: regional harmonisation that removes duplicative licensing and simplifies market access. She noted that progress is already underway—PSP passporting agreements between Kenya, Rwanda, and Ghana suggest that virtual asset frameworks are converging, even if full harmonisation will take time.
In the interim, platforms that already operate across multiple regulatory environments—Cedar Money covers 9 African markets—provide the infrastructure for businesses to move now, without waiting for the regulatory landscape to fully settle.
None of the panellists argued for wholesale disruption of traditional banking. The consensus was convergence.
"The future involves increasing collaboration and convergence between the digital and traditional banking worlds, with no entity being completely replaced," said Fagade. "The future is a hybrid world where interconnected parties work together."
Nnajim elaborated on how this plays out practically: banks will partner with fintech infrastructure providers—embedding faster payment rails within existing banking systems—rather than competing with them. The businesses that benefit most will be those that can access both worlds simultaneously.
Africa's cross-border payment challenge isn't primarily a technology problem anymore. It's a trust and compliance problem. As Fagade summarized: "Africa must prioritize building compliance infrastructure, not just technology, to ensure the continent is trusted globally."
For businesses, that means treating treasury as a strategic function, not a cost center, using digital rails to optimize FX exposure, accelerating settlement cycles, and building compliance workflows that enable expansion rather than slow it.
Expansion moves at the speed of settlement. And the infrastructure to support it is ready.
For a deeper analysis of the regulatory shifts, corridor dynamics, and strategic frameworks shaping cross-border trade in 2026, download Cedar's full whitepaper, Key Cross-Border Trade Shifts in Q1 2026.
