Africa trade finance events in November 2026: what is confirmed

Africa trade finance events this month: the Luanda summit opens

The Africa Financial Summit, known as AFIS 2026, takes place in Luanda, Angola, on 3 and 4 November 2026. According to Ver Angola and TechTrends Kenya, it is the sixth edition of a series launched in 2021 by Jeune Afrique Media Group together with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group. It is the first edition held in Southern Africa and the first in a Portuguese-speaking country.

Attendance is reported at about 1,250 leaders and regulators from African and international finance (Ver Angola), or more than 1,250 financial industry leaders (TechTrends Kenya). The reports do not name a specific venue within Luanda. The theme is "Making Capital Count: Driving Growth through African Finance", and Ver Angola says the programme includes 18 central bank governors and eight finance ministers from Africa and other regions.

TechTrends Kenya lists confirmed speakers including Makhtar Diop, IFC Managing Director, Sidi Ould Tah, President of the African Development Bank, Vera Daves de Sousa, Angola's Minister of Finance, Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, Governor of the BCEAO, and Serge Ekué, President of the West African Development Bank (BOAD). The format combines strategic discussions, technical sessions, bilateral meetings and networking, with participants from banks, insurers, fintech companies, capital markets, development institutions and regulators.

Africa trade finance events and the banking numbers behind AFIS

The organisers frame the summit with figures on the African banking sector. Ver Angola reports that African banking revenues exceeded 100 billion dollars in 2024, with a return on equity of 19 percent, while growth slowed to around 5 percent a year. Loans are said to account for only about 30 percent of banking assets across the continent, and the statement points to millions of fragmented micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, or businesses operating in the informal sector, as a constraint on how capital is allocated.

Six priorities are listed for the next decade: finance serving the real economy, a purposeful dimension, technology adapted to African realities, turning African savings into African investment, integration for scale, and autonomy in defining financial rules. TechTrends Kenya adds the themes of mobilising domestic resources, strengthening continental financial integration, accelerating digital transformation and supporting the growth of African financial institutions.

AFIS is a general financial-industry summit rather than a pure trade finance conference. For trade finance practitioners, the relevant threads are real-economy financing, the thin loan books of African banks and the role of small and medium-sized firms, all of which shape how much working capital reaches importers and exporters.

Ver Angola also reports that President João Lourenço authorised 2.57 billion kwanzas for services needed to prepare, coordinate and organise the summit, under Presidential Decree No. 396/26 of 23 October, which allows a simplified contracting procedure. A multi-sectoral commission created by Presidential Decree No. 108/26 of 2 April will run the event. This is the amount authorised for services, as stated in the decree report, not a reported final cost.

Africa trade finance events in London: GTR Africa 2026 on 12 November

Global Trade Review (GTR) lists GTR Africa 2026 for 12 November 2026 at Convene 155 Bishopsgate, Liverpool Street, in London. According to the GTR event page, the organiser expects more than 500 delegates, more than 50 speakers and more than 25 exhibitors, with at least four hours of networking time.

The agenda themes published by GTR are: African trade and navigating headwinds; trade reconfiguration and working capital solutions; development finance convergence in Africa; export credit agency reform and remaining competitive; a stocktake on sovereign debt and instrument innovation; and operational priorities for Africa's contractor projects.

The speaker list on the page includes representatives of Standard Chartered, Standard Bank, Absa, Nedbank CIB, Investec Bank, FirstBank UK, Zenith Bank UK, Afreximbank, the IFC, the EBRD, British International Investment, UK Export Finance, the Danish export credit agency EIFO, the ARM Africa Trade Finance Fund, TCX and the Loan Market Association, among others. The mix of commercial banks, development institutions and export credit agencies shows who shapes African trade lending from the London market.

On pricing, GTR lists a corporate rate of 299 pounds plus 20 percent VAT for non-financial companies and a standard rate of 999 pounds plus 20 percent VAT for financial institutions and service providers. The early-booking discount of 10 percent ran until 9 October 2026, and a 15 percent discount applies to two or more simultaneous bookings from the same company. Prices may have changed since the page was read.

Afreximbank's Gaborone seminar: one of the key Africa trade finance events for banks

According to a listing on BusinessGhana, Afreximbank, in partnership with the Botswana Investment and Trade Centre, is organising the Trade Finance Seminar and Compliance Forum 2026. The main programme is listed for 16 to 18 November 2026 at the Gaborone International Convention Centre in Botswana, followed by a Factoring Workshop on 19 November. The listing shows participation as free of charge. Note that the same listing shows a location field reading "Accra Central, Greater Accra", which conflicts with the Gaborone venue stated in its text; the organiser's own page was not available when this overview was prepared, so dates and venue should be confirmed with Afreximbank.

The listing gives the theme of the Trade Finance Seminar (ATFS2026) as "Trade Financing in the AfCFTA Era: Resilient Value Chains, Infrastructure and Market Integration", and that of the Compliance Forum (ACF2026) as "Better Compliance, Better Trade: Leveraging Compliance to Promote African Regulations that Advance Intra-African Economic and Trade Integration". It says the audience includes industry leaders, policymakers and experts from trade finance, compliance and market roles.

As historical background, a Botswana newspaper, The Patriot, reported on the 2019 edition in Durban, South Africa, which it described as the 20th Afreximbank Trade Finance Seminar and Workshop, held from 4 to 7 November 2019 with more than 200 participants. At that event an Afreximbank executive said the training aimed to build capacity to structure bankable trade finance deals. That is a 2019 report and says nothing about the 2026 programme.

What these Africa trade finance events mean for banks, importers and exporters

The following points are general context, not reported facts and not advice. For a bank's trade finance or correspondent banking team, the three events cover different ground: AFIS looks at the macro picture of capital and bank balance sheets, GTR Africa at instruments, export credit and development finance, and the Gaborone seminar at product training and compliance in the context of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

For importers and exporters, the practical value lies less in the speeches than in meeting funders. Themes such as working capital solutions, export credit agency cover and factoring point to the tools that firms actually use to bridge the gap between shipping goods and getting paid. Companies with a transaction in mind can prepare a short description of the trade flow, the countries involved and the payment terms before approaching a bank or a development institution at a conference.

Compliance deserves equal attention. A forum dedicated to compliance and trade integration signals that know-your-customer standards, sanctions screening and cross-border regulatory differences remain a daily concern for banks that handle African trade flows. Importers and exporters should expect their banks to ask for more documentation, not less.

Africa trade finance events: what is confirmed and what to check

Confirmed from published pages as of 3 November 2026: the AFIS dates and location in Luanda, the GTR Africa date, venue and agenda in London, and the Gaborone dates and themes as listed by BusinessGhana. Not confirmed: the exact venue of AFIS, the final attendance of any of the three events, and the Gaborone location and dates on Afreximbank's own page. Programmes, speakers and prices can change, so readers who plan to attend should check the organisers' registration pages before booking travel.

Further Africa trade finance events later in 2026 and in 2027 may be announced; GTR, for instance, already publishes a media kit for a West Africa conference in Lagos in 2027, but no date or programme was verified for this overview. Until the organisers publish more, the three gatherings above are the verified opportunities for bankers, importers and exporters to follow the African trade finance debate in person this month.