Standard Bank expands African presence

Standard Bank, Stanbic IBTC’s parent bank, plans to use its presence in Ivory Coast (Côte

d’Ivoire) to expand its service offering across the rest of Francophone Africa, which the lender believes is poised to experience an investment boom as foreign companies are lured by the region’s mineral wealth and economic growth.

Africa’s largest lender opened its Ivory Coast representative office in the capital city of Abidjan in November last year to service its 145 clients with operations in Francophone Africa in sectors ranging

from mining, oil and gas, infrastructure, power and energy to fast moving consumer goods.

Standard Bank said at the time that the investment signified a deliberate drive into West Francophone Africa due to Ivory Coast’s membership of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA), which includes Benin Republic, Burkina Fasso, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, and Togo.

“It’s fair to say that we’ll be using the Ivory Coast office as a launch-pad into the rest of the region. Francophone West Africa is less well-known to South Africans but it cannot be ignored due to the

economic potential,” said Greg Goeller, executive for client coverage Africa at Standard Bank’s corporate and investment banking unit. “The region has all the components to benefit from the next

global mining and infrastructure boom, which in turn will lead to economic growth in other sectors as well. Our clients are increasing presence and exposure to West Francophone Africa and we plan to follow them.”

Ivory Coast has emerged from two decades of civil war as one of the fastest growing economies in Africa thanks to public investment in infrastructure, natural resources, the commercialisation of its

agriculture sector and its rapidly emerging consumer market. The country remains the largest and most diversified economy in Francophone Africa and is also the ninth largest in all of Sub-Saharan

Africa.

“The story of Francophone Africa is really the story of the rediscovery of the region’s mineral wealth following years of political instability and conflict,” said Goeller. “Ivory Coast is the perfect example of how the economic growth potential of countries in Francophone Africa has overtaken their internal political challenges.”

In addition to the countries making up the UEMOA, Standard Bank also plans to expand its focus to include the six nations that comprise the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC), which include Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo,

Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. These two monetary unions (CEMAC and UEMOA) have combined populations of 148 million people and a cumulative nominal gross domestic product of $167 billion.

Goeller says these nations have the advantage in that their currency (CFA franc) is guaranteed by the French treasury while both the currencies used in the two monetary unions, the West and Central

African CFA francs, are pegged to the euro.

Ivory Coast recently concluded a 20 year $500 million loan with China’s Export-Import Bank (Exim) to finance the construction of the 275mw Soubre Hydro Power Station while US private equity firm Joule Investments has agreed to start developing Phase II of the existing Bumbuna Hydroelectric Plant (BHP) with the Sierra Leone government.