Leading pan-African banking group, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), has opened a representative office in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, bringing to 36 the total number of countries in sub-Saharan Africa in which the bank has a presence.
The bank said in a statement issued here over the weekend that it opened the representative office three months after it obtained a licence to operate a representative office in Ethiopia.
The office, located in the Yerer Ber district of Addis Ababa, which is close to both the airport and the city centre, will initially have a staff of three, it said.
PANA quoted the bank as saying that via the Addis Ababa representative office, local Ethiopian banks would be able to access Ecobank’s correspondent banking and trade finance activities across Africa, as well as correspondent banking in Europe via Ecobank’s affiliate in Paris, EBI SA.
”Ecobank will be marketing the benefits of its pan-African platform to international and non-governmental organisations with operations in Ethiopia and local banks, together with its leading retail product offerings, including Rapidtransfer, the Ecobank Regional Card and the Ecobank Diasporan Account.
”Under the auspices of Ecobank Development Corporation, the Group will also be investigating investment banking opportunities resulting from the country’s five-year Growth and Transformation Plan, which is encouraging foreign investment to enhance productivity in the agricultural and manufacturing sectors in particular,” it said.
The statement quoted Ecobank Group’s Chief Executive Officer Thierry Tanoh as saying: “Ethiopia has emerged as one of Africa’s most exciting new markets and is forecast to be the world’s third fastest growing economy between 2011 and 2015, behind only China and India.
“Our Addis Ababa representative office will provide us with an opportunity to establish an important foothold in Ethiopia, ahead of the anticipated deregulation of the banking sector,” he added.
Incorporated in Lomé, Togo, ETI is the parent company of the leading independent pan-African banking group, Ecobank.
Before opening the Ethiopian office, it had a presence in 35 African countries – Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo (Brazzaville), (Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
