Exim Bank Uganda and TerraPay Launch Exim Global Pay for Seamless Cross-Border Payments

Exim Bank Uganda has launched Exim Global Pay, a cross-border payment solution powered by TerraPay’s infrastructure. This move allows Ugandan businesses and individuals to bypass traditional remittance hurdles, facilitating smoother international trade and personal transfers. For the fintech sector, it represents another significant step in the ongoing integration of African banking with global digital payment networks.

What was announced

Exim Global Pay is a new service designed to streamline international transactions for the Ugandan market. By leveraging TerraPay’s global payments infrastructure, Exim Bank Uganda enables its customers to send money across borders without the bank needing to build multiple, complex bilateral integrations. The solution is aimed at both the commercial and retail sectors, addressing a growing demand for reliable outbound payments as the country becomes more connected to global trade and services.

For businesses, the platform facilitates payments to international suppliers, service providers, and commercial partners, aiming to improve efficiency within global value chains. On the consumer side, the service covers a variety of personal financial needs, including tuition fees for overseas education, medical expenses, family support, and travel costs. The partnership effectively combines Exim Bank Uganda’s local regulatory expertise and customer base with TerraPay’s technical reach, allowing the bank to maintain its local brand identity while offering a global service. The launch responds to a reality where Ugandan consumers increasingly require payment solutions that combine international reach with the convenience and speed of their local banking relationship.

"The introduction of Exim Global Pay reflects a broader shift in customer expectations around international financial transactions.

The world has become remarkably connected. A business in Kampala can transact with a supplier thousands of kilometres away, a parent can pay for a child's education overseas, and an individual can have financial commitments in more than one country. What should not remain complicated is the payment that makes these transactions possible.

With Exim Global Pay, we are responding to that reality. We want to make international payments a more straightforward experience for our customers, while giving them the confidence that their money can move across borders through a solution built around convenience, reliability and efficiency."

Edward Kanyike, Managing Director, Exim Bank Uganda

The companies involved

Exim Bank Uganda is a financial institution focused on providing banking services tailored to the evolving needs of the Ugandan market, particularly as commerce becomes increasingly digitised and internationalised. The bank prioritises building financial services that respond to the increasing connectivity of its customers to global trade and commercial activity.

TerraPay is a major player in the global payments space, providing the underlying infrastructure that allows banks, mobile wallet operators, and money transfer organisations to connect seamlessly. The company specialises in building interoperability between different financial systems, reducing the friction typically associated with moving money across borders. TerraPay’s network is designed to handle the complexities of cross-border settlements, compliance, and currency conversion, allowing its partners to offer real-time or near-real-time payments to their end users. With a significant presence in Sub-Saharan Africa and a growing global footprint, TerraPay has become a frequent partner for traditional banks looking to modernise their remittance capabilities. FF News has followed the company's growth closely, with 57 previous reports documenting its expansion across various global markets.

What FF News has reported before

TerraPay has been exceptionally active in expanding its global footprint through strategic partnerships. FF News recently reported on the company’s collaboration with RemitBee and TerraPay Partner to Scale Global Cross-Border Payouts for Canadian SMEs. This followed an agreement where NBB and TerraPay Partner to Bridge Traditional Banking with Global Digital Wallets, highlighting the company's role in connecting legacy systems with modern fintech. Additionally, the firm was selected by Terrabank Partners with TerraPay and Mozrt to Revolutionize Cross-Border Payments. These moves underscore a consistent strategy of positioning TerraPay as the primary infrastructure layer for banks across diverse geographies, from North America to the Middle East and now East Africa.

What this means

This launch highlights the intensifying pressure on traditional banks in emerging markets to modernise their outbound payment capabilities. As local businesses and middle-class consumers become more globally mobile, the "stickiness" of a banking relationship increasingly depends on how easily money can leave the country, not just how it is stored within it. By opting for a third-party infrastructure provider like TerraPay, Exim Bank Uganda is acknowledging that the era of slow, opaque correspondent banking is ending. The move puts pressure on other regional players to find similar technical shortcuts to global connectivity or risk losing high-value commercial and remittance flows to more agile digital competitors.