Afreximbank Plans a Pan-African Gold Bank for the Continent

AFRICA · MARKETS

A Pan-African Gold Bank would let Africa refine, store and trade its own gold instead of shipping it abroad, the head of Afreximbank said this week. The goal is to keep more of the metal’s value, and more of the reserves, on the continent.

Gold bars: Afreximbank wants Africa to refine, store and trade more of its own gold at home. (Photo: Stevebidmead, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons)

What a Pan-African Gold Bank would do

Africa digs up a large share of the world’s gold, yet most of it leaves the continent as raw ore or rough bars to be refined and traded somewhere else. The value added at those final steps, and the fees, are captured abroad.

The Pan-African Gold Bank is meant to change that. Its purpose, the bank says, is to structure African gold value chains, strengthen central-bank reserves and reduce the continent’s dependence on external refining and trading centres.

In practice that means building the missing infrastructure at home. The proposed ecosystem would include a globally accredited refinery, secure storage vaults and the financial and trading services that sit around them, potentially in a designated free zone in Egypt.

Why keeping gold at home matters

For an outside reader, the simplest way to see it is this: a country that only mines gold earns once, while one that also refines, stores and trades it earns again and again. Afreximbank wants African economies to climb that ladder.

There is also a question of security and trust. Holding refined, accredited gold on the continent would give African central banks reserves they control directly, a growing concern as governments everywhere rethink where their wealth is stored.

The timing helps. Gold prices have climbed to record highs, so the rewards from refining and trading the metal at home are larger than they have been in years.

A new president, a sovereignty theme

The plan was set out by George Elombi, who became Afreximbank’s fourth president in October 2025 after nearly three decades at the Cairo-based lender. A Cameroonian lawyer, he has framed his term around deeper African self-reliance.

That message ran through the bank’s 33rd Annual Meetings, held in El Alamein, Egypt, on 21 to 24 June 2026 under the theme “Intra-African Trade and Industrialization: Pathway to Economic Sovereignty”. The gathering was expected to draw more than 3,000 delegates.

Elombi also pointed to the bank’s 250-million-dollar African Trade Centre, rising in Egypt’s new administrative capital. It is designed as a hub for trade facilitation, payments, logistics and support for small and medium-sized firms.

A meeting reshaped by a health scare

The annual gathering did not go entirely to plan. Egypt and the African Union postponed the African Union Mid-Year Coordination Summit and the first Alamein Africa Forum, both due in the same town on 25 to 27 June, on public-health and safety grounds tied to an evolving health situation in parts of the continent.

As a result, the formal meeting of Afreximbank’s shareholders was conducted by correspondence rather than in person. The bank’s own business sessions and announcements, including the gold plan, still went ahead.

Where Africa’s gold comes from

Africa is one of the world’s great gold regions. Ghana is the continent’s largest producer, followed by heavyweights such as South Africa, Mali, Burkina Faso and Sudan.

Much of that metal is shipped to refining and trading hubs in Switzerland, Dubai and India before it reaches buyers. Each of those stops adds value and earns fees that, today, flow largely outside Africa.

A continental refinery and vault would aim to capture more of that chain at the source. It would also give smaller producers a credible, accredited place to sell, rather than relying on informal channels.

The bigger picture

The Gold Bank fits a pattern of African institutions trying to build their own financial plumbing rather than rent someone else’s. It sits beside efforts to lift intra-African trade and to fund energy and industry from within the continent.

For now it is a proposal, not a finished institution, and feasibility studies and regulatory approvals lie ahead. But the direction of travel is clear, and it points toward more value, and more control, staying in African hands.

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