Banking & Financial Services
From The Report: Gabon 2015
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Banking growth is expected to be subdued due to the fall in oil prices, though new developments such as the introduction of mobile money services and increased inter-bank cooperation have served the sector in good stead over the long run. Insurance, meanwhile, grew by 3.3% in 2014, mainly due to the uptick in industry and infrastructure activity.
This chapter includes interviews with Edgar Théophile Anon, Managing Director, BGFIBank Gabon; and Bernard Bartoszek, Former President, Federation of Gabonese Insurance Companies.
Articles from this Chapter
Set for inclusion: Despite low penetration levels, reforms are set to help boost the banking sector
On the go: New cash transfer options are expected to boost penetrationOBGplus
Mobile money has been a hot topic since Kenyan mobile operator Safaricom launched its M-PESA money transfer system in 2007. The initiative subsequently saw astonishing success, and now by some accounts is responsible for cash transfers equivalent in volume to roughly one-third of Kenya’s GDP. However, replicating that immediate success elsewhere in Africa has not been quite so easy, although the longterm prospects are certainly encouraging. Jumping In Since 2012 four mobile money services have…
The more the merrier: Increased inter-bank cooperation should help to address funding shortagesOBGplus
Project finance is one of the main drivers of business in the Gabonese banking sector. The IMF describes most local banking activity as “concentrated on large companies financing large-scale projects”. Despite this, some investment-intensive sectors in particular, such as oil and gas and mining, tend to raise financing abroad rather than from local banks. Other sectors also attract lending from abroad. For example, in March 2015 China provided Gabon with a 10-year, CFA4bn (€6m) loan to fund…
OBG talks to Edgar Théophile Anon, Managing Director, BGFI Bank Gabon: InterviewOBGplus
Interview: EdgarThéophile Anon How will banking turnover evolve in 2015? EDGAR THÉOPHILE ANON: The turnover of Gabon’s banking sector should not rise substantially in 2015. The sector as a whole has experienced a slight credit and deposit contraction in the first quarter due to the current financial crisis. Additionally, new legislation from January 2014 entered into force in 2015, obliging banks to increase their funding levels for all loans. Specifically, banks have to raise their provisioning…
A first step: More listings are expected as firms look to the exchangeOBGplus
The country is home to the Stock Exchange of Central Africa (Bourse des Valeurs Mobilières d’Afrique Centrale, BVMAC), which has been operational since 2008 and is the regional exchange for the CEMAC economic bloc. The market has seen only light activity, in particular as regards equity listings. In its 2014 Article IV Consultation for Gabon published in February 2015, the IMF described the regional bond market as having “limited depth and short maturity profiles” and able to “only meet…
Risk aversion: A dynamic insurance sector spurs foreign and local playersOBGplus
Driven by increasing corporate activity on the back of steady headline growth, Gabon has developed a comparatively large insurance sector, despite the country’s small population. Much of the sector’s growth has been linked to industrial development and expansion of infrastructure in recent years, mostly encouraged by the government’s Emerging Gabon Strategic Plan (Plan Stratégique Gabon É mergent, PSGE), which aims to revitalise and diversify the economy beyond the hydrocarbons sector. Due…
Reaching out: Market growth will depend on increasing penetration levels and widening coverageOBGplus
Although penetration of insurance services has typically been higher in Gabon than most surrounding markets, the country has shown that room for growth remains. Securing new insurance customers has sometimes been challenging for providers, due to low market awareness, particularly among low-income earners, and insufficiently developed distribution networks, especially across Gabon’s rural areas. However, government policy, a changing market and new distribution channels offered by insurance providers…
OBG talks to Bernard Bartoszek, Former President, Federation of Gabonese Insurance Companies: InterviewOBGplus
Interview: Bernard Bartoszek How did the country’s insurance sector evolve in 2014 in terms of premiums? BERNARD BARTOSZEK: According to our most recent statistics, the insurance sector posted steady growth of 3.31% in 2014 in spite of social tensions and the drop in oil prices. Total premiums amounted to over CFA118bn (€177m), up from CFA114bn (€171m) in 2013. The growth was mainly driven by the non-life segment, which grew by 3.8% and accounted for 84.9% of sector turnover. When we look…
