Case study
Turning the currencies of African markets into dollars
How YeePay works with Crown Agents Bank
Speak to an expertFor eligible institutional and wholesale clients only.
$348bnChina–Africa trade in 2025, a record high
120+currencies supported across our network
800+currency pairs supported across our network
30+central banks we partner with
China–Africa trade figure in US dollars. Source: General Administration of Customs of China, 2025 annual data. Currency and currency-pair figures cover Crown Agents Bank’s broader network and are subject to client eligibility, product, corridor and market availability.
The challenge
A Chinese exporter sells to a buyer in Lagos. A Chinese airline flying into Nairobi, Dar es Salaam or Addis Ababa sells tickets in local currency. In each case the money arrives as naira, shillings or birr, and it has to become US dollars, and ultimately renminbi, before it reaches the business that earned it.
For a payments institution operating across Africa and beyond, that conversion is the hard part. The currencies are volatile, local capital controls are strict, and converting African currencies into renminbi often means going through US dollars first. Repatriation can mean several conversion legs, each with its own cost and delay. Yet the margin on that conversion is what the business runs on. Pricing, execution and market knowledge all shape who you route to.
About YeePay
As a leading enterprise payment solutions provider, YeePay pioneers a category that integrates payments with industry ecosystems and digital infrastructure. YeePay is now expanding its global footprint with a particular focus on Africa and Latin America, where many of its clients already trade.
What Crown Agents Bank provides
YeePay uses Crown Agents Bank Limited for wholesale foreign exchange in G10 currencies, priced on Crown Agents Bank’s streaming wholesale FX rates and settled by Crown Agents Bank Limited through its banking network. YeePay states that it compares available quotes from multiple FX providers when determining where to route transactions.
What makes the relationship different is where it could go next. YeePay chose a bank with long-standing relationships in the African markets its clients find hardest. The two companies are also exploring opportunities to broaden their wholesale FX relationship, subject to product eligibility, regulatory requirements and market availability.
Why Crown Agents Bank?
Africa is where the relationship began. Crown Agents Bank specialises in selected emerging and frontier markets where access, liquidity and local market requirements can be more complex. It works with a range of financial institutions across the region, including on trade finance and clearing, which gives it a close understanding of these markets. Its heritage can be traced through predecessor organisations over nearly two centuries.
In their words
The reason we chose Crown Agents Bank goes beyond rate. Africa is one of our strategic markets, and in many African countries it is hard to find a reliable banking partner with real local capabilities and relationships. Crown Agents Bank has that, and it gives us one trusted provider for both our major-currency and emerging-market FX needs.
Chen YuCo-Founder, YeePayOur clients don’t need another bank in the places that are already well served. They need a partner that offers streaming FX pricing in the major currencies and specialises in selected emerging and frontier markets, where access, liquidity and local requirements can be more complex. That is what Crown Agents Bank does, and it is why a business like YeePay brings its FX to us.
Charles ManginGlobal Head of Foreign Exchange, Crown Agents BankSpeak to an expert
To find out more about Crown Agents Bank Limited’s wholesale FX services, speak to one of our FX experts.
For information only. Crown Agents Bank Limited’s wholesale FX services are available only to eligible institutional and wholesale clients, subject to client classification, onboarding, product eligibility, contractual terms, jurisdictional restrictions and market availability. This material is not directed at retail clients.
About Crown Agents Bank
Crown Agents Bank is a UK regulated bank focused on emerging markets. Driven by its purpose to deliver prosperity in the Global South regions it serves, Crown Agents Bank provides FX, payments and banking solutions for organisations operating in complex and underserved markets. Its network connects clients across the public, private and development sectors to more than 120 currencies across more than 800 currency pairs, subject to client eligibility, product, corridor and market availability.
The bank’s heritage can be traced through predecessor organisations over nearly two centuries. It combines local market expertise, global market access and a relationship led model to support clients with cross-border FX and settlement through its banking network, subject to applicable terms, controls and market availability.
Crown Agents Bank Limited (Company Number 02334687) is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority (Financial Services Register number: 204456). Crown Agents Bank Americas is a New York representative office of Crown Agents Bank Ltd.
About YeePay
YeePay is a leading cross-border payments company that builds all-in-one transaction processing network empowering entrepreneurs in global cross-border trade. YeePay processes nearly USD 720 billion annually and serves over 6.5 million enterprise clients across key sectors, including retail, e-commerce, airlines and travel, digital finance, cross-border commerce, and public sector and institutional services. YeePay aims to help global businesses simplify payment and financial operations, seeking market opportunities and growing without barriers.
We provide one-stop global cross-border payment network for leading global enterprises, connecting entrepreneurs worldwide and achieving mutual success in global opportunities, our business footprints in Mainland China, Hong Kong, China, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, Latin America, Europe along with other countries and regions.
