Stanbic Ghana is joining the Chinese community to celebrate this year’s Spring Festival.

The festival which marks the beginning of the new year on the traditional Chinese calendar kicked off in Ghana with a gala night. The event was hosted by the China Embassy.

The guests included CEOs of Chinese companies operating in Ghana.

Sylvia Inkoom, Head Client Coverage, Stanbic Bank, speaking at the event said "We view our relationship with the Chinese community as a key part of our business. China is a key economic partner for Africa and Standard Bank, our parent group, is at forefront of strengthening relations between the continent and China.”

Inkoom said Stanbic Bank is already offering Chinese customers mutually beneficial business products and services such as Mandarin speaking relationship managers, Remimbi accounts, concession pricing and partnership with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) on financing deals. Also available for such clients is an advisory office in Beijing.

Stanbic believes in strengthening the Africa-China corridor and has rolled out a number of initiatives to help achieve that. Last year, the I-Go Ghana tourism initiative was launched to woo Chinese tourists to Ghana.

Customers travelling from China can now use their standard issue Union Pay International card to make purchases at participating I-Go Ghana merchants.

China is the world’s number one source market for tourism with 129 million outbound trips in 2017 and Chinese tourists would boost the economy of any country that they may visit.

Ghana China relations continue to grow in leaps and bounds with Ghanaian students being the highest number of African students studying in China.

Chinese influence in Ghana can be seen in a number of prominent landmarks such as the Ministry of Defence building, the National Theatre and the Tamale Sports Stadium.

China is the largest trading partner of Ghana with bilateral trade rising from $100 in the year 2000 to $6.7 billion in the year 2017.

“Ghana being our home we continue to drive her growth. For this reason, we shall partner the Chinese community to draw closer the peoples of Ghana and China to unlock many opportunities.

Deepening Ghana-Sino contacts will undoubtedly deliver even more benefits to the economy and underline our total commitment to driving growth,” said Inkoom.

The Standard Bank Group, of which Stanbic Bank Ghana is a member, is 20 percent owned the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) China’s largest bank by assets.