Banking
From The Report: Cote d'Ivoire 2017
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The banking sector has seen sustained double-digit growth since 2011, reinforcing Côte d’Ivoire’s role as the UEMOA bloc’s primary banking centre. The potential for continuing that growth is significant, as is the impact a larger financial sector would have on the national economy. That said, there are weaknesses in terms of sector performance with regard to its ability to lend, in particular. To address this, the authorities are currently steering a course of ambitious restructuring, namely the privatisation of low-performing public banks, to further clean up the sector. The restructuring plan’s primary goal is to make banking more profitable, as well as increase retail and corporate lending. This chapter contains an interview with Tiémoko Meyliet Koné, Governor, BCEAO; and a roundtable with Daouda Coulibaly, Managing Director, Société Ivoirienne de Banque; Charles Daboiko, Managing Director, Ecobank Côte d’Ivoire; and Jean-Louis Menann Kouamé, CEO, BICICI.

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

Key changes: The country is looking to maintain high growth by restructuring and reinvigorating the sector
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Ever since emerging from its decade-long political and security crisis in 2011, Côte d’Ivoire has experienced an aggregate growth rate of around 9%, which has benefited the country’s financial services industry. The banking sector has seen sustained double-digit growth since 2011, reinforcing the country’s role as the UEMOA bloc’s primary banking centre. The potential for continuing that growth is significant, as is the impact a larger financial sector would have on the national economy.…

Interview

Resilience through regulation: Tiémoko Meyliet Koné, Governor, BCEAO, on bolstering the banking and finance sectors
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Interview: Tiémoko Meyliet Koné What measures have been put in place to increase the resilience of the banking sector? TIEMOKO MEYLIET KONE: Recent banking crises have taught us that the resilience of a banking sector depends on the quality of its regulatory framework; the stability of the macroeconomic environment; the efficiency of micro- and macro-prudential monitoring mechanisms; as well as the overall robustness of the country’s financial infrastructure. Actions taken by the UEMOA authorities…

Analysis

Finance boost: Small businesses should benefit from additional funding over the coming months
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At a forum hosted by the African Development Bank (AfDB) at its headquarters in Abidjan in November 2016, Ivorian lenders pledged to dedicate CFA1.34trn (€2bn) in financing to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in 2017. The injection of credit aims to relieve pressure on smaller companies, which have traditionally struggled to obtain funding despite forming the backbone of Côte d’Ivoire’s economy. The funding boost comes as the Abidjan-based Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières…

Analysis

Central solutions: In the face of liquidity challenges, states are looking to local banks to help bridge funding gaps
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The market for government debt is changing across Africa, and in ways that pose risks for local banks as well as for their investors and customers. States are looking to their banks to help bridge funding gaps so they can better ride out the cycle of lower commodity prices and tepid global growth. That means it is harder to raise international funds – such as by issuing dollar-denominated eurobonds – and this has caused a jump in the issuance of domestic currency bonds, of which banks are the…

Overview

Further consolidation: Daouda Coulibaly, Managing Director, Société Ivoirienne de Banque; Charles Daboiko, Managing Director, Ecobank Côte d’Ivoire and Jean-Louis Menann Kouame, CEO, BICICI on banking consolidation and penetration
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Interview:Daouda Coulibaly, Charles Daboiko and Jean-Louis Menann Kouame What can be done to increase banking penetration and savings rates? DAOUDA COULIBALY: While there are a great number of banking products on offer, banking penetration remains low. As a result, local banks should devise products that fit the needs of Ivorians. It is safe to say that this low rate is mainly due to the predominance of an informal economy and the large number of rural communities. The challenge here is to…

Analysis

Finance on the go: Mobile money is increasing financial inclusivity across Africa
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Following the phenomenal success of Kenya’s 10-year-old M-Pesa programme, mobile money and mobile banking initiatives have begun popping up across the African continent. Beginning as a simple and secure way to transfer small amounts of money, mobile money programmes have evolved to offering subscribers a full suite of financial services, including savings, bill payment, investment and insurance. Kenya has become a market of reference for mobile financial services and value of this is clear, as…

Analysis

In accordance with Africa: Basel III has African banks reassessing the one-size-fits-all prescription and their own development goals
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The Basel III banking accords mark the latest step in the process of harmonising financial regulations across markets, but the nature of their focus – and some of the problems they seek to solve – mean that their relevance to Africa’s emerging and frontier markets can sometimes be limited. The majority of the banking sectors in African economies – South Africa aside – are far more straightforward, with activities focused on the fundamentals of loans and deposits. As the Basel accords…