Banking & Financial Services
From The Report: Gabon 2016
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Gabon’s banking sector is heavily concentrated – a trait of many of the continent’s financial service industries – with the only privately owned local player in an outsized role. However, African banking groups have been rapidly growing their market share. Pushed down by macroeconomic headwinds, lending fell and distressed debt levels rose in 2015, but the sector showed signs of recovery in early 2016. In the short term the fortunes of the banking sector will remain dependent on the wider economic situation, which is in turn heavily linked to the international price of oil. However, government reform efforts at public banks should help put the industry on a more stable long-term footing, and plans for a new payment incidents registry and credit bureau should also boost the sophistication of payment methods and credit provision in coming years.

This chapter includes a dialogue with Claude Ayo-Iguendha, Director-General, BICIG; and Abdelaziz Yaaqoubi, Director-General, UGB; and an interview with Séverin Anguilé, President, Federation of Gabonese Insurance Companies.

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

Looking up: Growth is expected after substantial headwinds
OBG
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Lenders in commodity-dependent Gabon were hit by the macroeconomic slowdown, but the outlook has since brightened, and with several new players looking to flex their muscles, lending to the private sector and households is expected to rise significantly. Gabon’s banking sector is heavily concentrated – a trait of many of the continent’s financial service industries – with the only privately owned local player in an outsized role. However, African banking groups have been rapidly growing their…

Analysis

On the watch: New regulatory bodies on the way will greatly assist lenders
OBG
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The regional authorities are currently working to create two new institutions that will serve to provide banks and merchants in CEMAC with more information on their customers. This will allow for an improvement in both the development of local payment systems and the ability of banks to lend with increased confidence. Payment Incidents Registry The regional central bank, Banque des Etats de l’Afrique Centrale (BEAC), is currently working to put in place a new registry of payment incidents across…

Overview

Money in the bank: OBG talks to Claude Ayo-Iguendha, Director-General, BICIG; and Abdelaziz Yaaqoubi, Director-General, UGB
OBG
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Interview:Claude Ayo-Iguendha; Abdelaziz Yaaqoubi What has been the impact of exogenous pressures on the banking sector? CLAUDE AYO-IGUENDHA: Despite a 5-6% drop in outstanding credits, Gabon has handled external pressures better than other CEMAC countries. The drop in outstanding credits is not due to liquidity pressures, but instead due to a lack of interesting opportunities in the market. Given the weight of oil revenues on state coffers, public banks have been heavily affected, but repercussions…

Overview

Leading the way: A study has made recommendations for the regional exchange
OBG
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Gabon is home to the regional stock market of CEMAC, the Central African Stock Exchange (Bourse des Valeurs Mobilières d’Afrique Centrale, BVMAC). While the exchange has attracted many bond listings since it began operations eight years ago, equity listings and secondary trading activity remain limited. To address this, the regulator commissioned a study of the exchange’s development potential and associated challenges, and are now working to implement steps to help it take off. The decision…

Overview

Premium attraction: Life segment offers strong potential after contraction in 2015
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Despite its small population, Gabon has a relatively large insurance market, thanks in part to its high per capita income. The industry contracted in 2015 on the back of the drop in oil prices, but the prospects for the sector’s long-term development, particularly the life and micro segments, are strong. Plans to raise mandatory capitalisation levels across the Inter-African Conference of Insurance Markets (Conférence Interafricaine des Marchés d’Assurance, CIMA) zone are also set to spur the…

Analysis

All inclusive: A national health care scheme has yielded impressive results
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Health care coverage in Gabon has been transformed over the last decade by a comprehensive state-backed public scheme, the National Health Insurance and Social Security Fund (Caisse Nationale d’Assurance Maladie et de Garantie Sociale, CNAMGS). The initiative, on which the World Health Organisation (WHO) provided advice, was created in 2007 and began registering low-income Gabonese, including students, in 2009. It now covers 99% of the population living in poverty. The scheme has since been expanded…

Interview

Safeguarding the future: OBG talks to Séverin Anguilé, President, Federation of Gabonese Insurance Companies
OBG
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Interview:Séverin Anguilé How has the insurance sector in Gabon changed over the last five years? SÉVERIN ANGUILÉ: We have experienced significant changes in the last few years, especially with the advent of Article 13 of the Inter-African Conference on Insurance Markets’ Insurance Code. Customers must now pay insurance policies upfront, which allows companies to have stable cash inflows, as opposed to before when insurers had to put up with a large number of premium-payment arrears.…