Transnational Inc. is stepping up efforts to facilitate direct yuan payments for clients trading with China as the pan-African lender seeks to boost ties with the continent’s biggest trading partner and reduce reliance on the dollar.

The bank, which has a footprint across more than 30 African markets, is opening a new office in Beijing and has also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Cross-Border Interbank Payment System, Beijing’s global system for yuan-denominated transactions, it said in a statement.

China has been exploring ways to increase the internationalization of the yuan and lessen dependence on the dollar, as Washington has at times used financial sanctions and access to the greenback-based financial system to pressure rivals.

African traders buying goods from the Asian nation traditionally had to convert their local currencies into dollars before exchanging them again into yuan, a process that increased costs and trade friction. The limited availability of direct facilitation has exposed businesses to dollar shortages and makes economies more susceptible to foreign-exchange volatility.

Ecobank joins Africa’s biggest lender, Standard Bank Group Ltd., which was the first on the continent to connect directly to CIPS in November. It had facilitated more than $1.2 billion in transactions by July. Rwanda’s biggest commercial lender, BK Group Plc’s Bank of Kigali, joined the platform last month. Absa Group Ltd. has said it’s exploring ways to enable direct yuan payments.

African governments and lenders are moving to diversify away from dollar-denominated trade as economic ties with Beijing deepen. For more than 15 years, China has financed infrastructure, energy, and mining projects. Nations such as Kenya and Zambia have explored greater use of the yuan in debt payments and commodity transactions.

For Beijing, promoting the yuan in Africa is central to its goal of internationalizing the currency and establishing financial corridors insulated from Western influence.