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Tag: Angola

  • Access Bank expands to Angola, Sierra Leone

    Access Bank expands to Angola, Sierra Leone

    Access Bank Plc on Wednesday announced the successful acquisition of Standard Chartered Bank‘s subsidiaries in Angola and Sierra Leone. This strategic move enhances Access Bank’s footprint across Africa and strengthens its position in the corporate and SME banking sectors.

    Read also: Tranglo expands to Africa, brings cross-border payments to 7 nations

    Strategic expansion in Africa

    The acquisition aligns with Access Bank’s vision of becoming “the World’s Most Respected African Bank.” Roosevelt Ogbonna, the Managing Director/CEO of Access Bank, stated, “We are pleased to have successfully concluded two important acquisitions in Angola and Sierra Leone, affording us synergies to strengthen the quality of our earnings from both countries.”

    This expansion increases Access Bank’s market share and enhances its ability to meet these regions’ growing demand for financial services.

    Future prospects

    Access Bank is also working on acquiring Standard Chartered’s operations in Cameroon, The Gambia, and its consumer banking business in Tanzania. These efforts reflect Access Bank’s commitment to fostering economic integration and improving African financial accessibility. The bank aims to leverage its new acquisitions to facilitate trade finance and support local businesses in key growth markets, Angola and Sierra Leone.

    This acquisition marks a significant milestone for Access Bank, which continues expanding its operations and influence throughout Africa.

    Read also: AfriGO, OPay’s alliance to transform Nigeria’s digital payment ecosystem

    About Access Bank 

    Access Bank Plc, established in 1989, is one of Nigeria’s leading multinational commercial banks. Initially focused on corporate banking, it has transformed into a full-service financial institution with a significant presence across Africa. The bank’s growth accelerated under the leadership of Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, particularly after its merger with Diamond Bank in 2019, making it the largest bank in Africa by customer base.

    Access Bank operates over 600 branches in multiple countries, including Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Zambia, and serves over 42 million customers. The bank prioritises innovation, investing in technology to enhance digital banking services. Additionally, Access Bank is committed to corporate social responsibility initiatives that promote sustainable economic development. In 2024, “The Power of 100 Africa” was launched to celebrate women making impactful contributions across various sectors. Access Bank strives for excellence while fostering financial inclusion throughout the continent. 

  • Mastercard, EMIS Promote Angola’s Digital Economy

    Mastercard, EMIS Promote Angola’s Digital Economy

    In a strategic partnership, Angola Mastercard and Empresa Interbancária de Serviços S.A. (EMIS) are developing a co-branded smart card with EMV technology that both businesses will use.

    This project aims to boost the digital economy and speed up the digital progress of both companies. 

    The Interbank Service Company, EMIS, manages the Angolan Payment System. It manages the banking system. It is in charge of managing the interbank network, which includes ATMs and POS devices. EMIS is Angola’s Mobile Virtual Process Operator (MVPO) and bank direct debit and funds transfer clearinghouse.

    Read also: Mastercard, Alerzo partner to digitize Nigerian SMEs

    Angola’s partnership

    This agreement gives Angolan consumers and small business owners a single card for cross-border payments. This makes payment methods work better together.

    Financial institutions also gain from this relationship. Mastercard’s cutting-edge technology and ability to save money on costs will help their home market and card offerings. This will make the neighborhood plan better. The Angolan Central Bank (BNA) wants to help more people get access to banking services and improve the digital economy and ecosystem of the country.

    As part of this agreement, Angolan banks will be able to use Mastercard’s loyalty platform, the national fraud and risk management solution, and Mastercard Payments Gateway Services. These tools will make it easier for e-commerce businesses to get help and for online deals to go smoothly.

    Mark Elliott, Mastercard’s Division President for Sub-Saharan Africa, said, “Our approach to innovation is to work with like-minded partners to fuel a digital economy that works for everyone around the world. Our partnership with EMIS shows how committed we are to helping key players around the world build an interconnected global payments ecosystem that meets different customer needs.

    The CEO of EMIS, José Matos, said, “Angola has made a lot of progress in the financial services area, and our partnership with Mastercard is meant to speed up this progress. Through this relationship, we are dedicated to bringing the many benefits of a fully-fledged interoperable payment system to the people of Angola as soon as possible. This will create a complete digital and financial ecosystem for them.

    Angola supports ICT and digital transformation

    Angola’s focus on digital transformation and the growth of the information and communication technologies (ICT) sector is strategic in many ways. The government sees these as important parts of socio-economic development, important in the fight against poverty and the exclusion of vulnerable groups, and important in driving modernization.

    In May 2022, Manuel Homem, the Minister of Telecommunications, Information Technologies, and Social Communication, emphasised the Angolan government’s role in improving the Single Digital Market in Africa and the business climate. So, the government has focused on promoting and backing the modernization of technology to ensure good governance, more people having access to financial services, and better economic and social well-being.

    Mastercard’s partnership with EMIS fits right in with its global commitment to financial inclusion. It wants to bring 1 billion people, including 50 million micro and small businesses and 25 million women entrepreneurs, into the digital economy by 2025 through a number of initiatives and partnerships.

  • Africell develops “Afrimoney” mobile money service in Angola

    Africell develops “Afrimoney” mobile money service in Angola

    Africell, a pan-African mobile network provider, has launched its “Afrimoney” mobile money service in Angola. This launch was made possible in collaboration with the National Bank of Angola (BNA).

    This move follows a phase of testing a pilot programme, and Africell thinks that the new platform would “digitize” the country’s informal economy and “unlock” those who do not have bank accounts, contributing to the country’s economic growth.

    Deposits, cell phone recharges, person-to-person transfers, bill payments, and payments to merchants are all supported via Afrimoney’s platform. It also plans to diversify into the provision of financial services such as credit, savings, and insurance.

    The platform’s main purpose is to provide useful financial instruments to almost half of Angolans who do not presently have bank accounts. Individuals who are connected to the network will be able to conduct digital commerce with one another as a result of this advancement. Users in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Gambia, and Sierra Leone can presently access the Afrimoney app.

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    What Africell Has in Store for New Clients

    As a way of saying thank you to new clients, the company offers free person-to-person transactions, and a bonus of one hundred percent on all mobile recharges that are paid for using mobile money.

    Ziad Dalloul, the Chief Executive Officer of Africell Group, views the launch of Afrimoney as a crucial component of the company’s aim to assist consumers in leading more comfortable lives, remaining more connected, and gaining access to a vast array of digital services, all of which are linked together by mobile money.

    About Africell 

    About one thousand people are directly employed by Africell across multiple countries, and the company indirectly contributes to the creation of thousands more jobs. 

    They are a US-owned company with headquarters in London, United Kingdom. Because of their positive social effect, their entrepreneurial spirit, and the openness with which they conduct their company, Africell is the right mobile network provider for Africa’s future.

    Over 16 million subscribers take advantage of their high-speed and dependable mobile network coverage, as well as their other technology-related services. They assist sub-Saharan Africa in gaining access to the remarkable long-term benefits that digital connectivity has to offer by providing a variety of voice and SMS solutions, data services, and Afrimoney, their mobile money platform

    Africell is a perturbing agent. They take on inefficiencies, welcome new ways of thinking, and produce cutting-edge goods and services that make a difference in people’s lives in a meaningful way.

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    About Afrimoney

    Similar to a digital bank account, Afri Money allows you to safely move money between accounts, store it, and manage it all through an account that is linked to your Africell sim card. With an Afrimoney account, you may do the following: Move money, either within your country or to another country. Make payments on your debts, including those to EDSA, DSTV, and WAEC, among others. Simply dial *777# to gain access to Afrimoney.

    If you have an Afrimoney account, you’ll have the ability to do the following: transfer money (either domestically or abroad), pay all of your invoices and fees and make payments for purchased products and services.

  • Access Bank to Acquire Angola-based Finibanco Majority Stake

    Access Bank to Acquire Angola-based Finibanco Majority Stake

    Access Holdings Plc, the company that owns the most shares of Access Bank Pl, has announced that it will acquire a majority stake in the Angolan bank Finibanco. This stake will amount to 51 percent of the bank’s total stock.

    Mr. Sunday Ekwochi, the company’s secretary, stated in a statement that the transaction would be completed through the purchase of existing shares that are owned by Montepio, the holding company for Banco Montepio, which is one of Portugal’s commercial banks. This information was given in response to a question about how the transaction would be done. Finibanco is a full-service commercial bank with more than 20 locations and assets worth more than $300 million. It works all over Angola.

    Ekwochi says the purchase will be completed by buying existing shares from Montepio, one of Portugal’s oldest commercial banks.

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    The Angolan market is the sixth largest in Africa and the seventh largest in the world. It has a wide range of natural resources and a growing population, which means it has a lot of potential for the bank’s goal of expanding.

    He continues that the deal helps the bank reach its goal of being Africa’s payment gateway to the rest of the world while working with other banks focused on Africa to build strong and efficient payment platforms and ecosystems to serve the region.

    What to expect from Access Bank’s acquisition of Finibanco’s major stake 

    The planned business is expected to make a big difference in the long run to the bank’s overall growth and financial results. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2023 after standard conditions have been met and regulatory approval has been given in Angola and Nigeria.

    A standard completion audit will show that it will close at 1.0x tangible book value minus any changes that were already agreed upon. The bank has made a number of conditional agreements about this, and if the deal goes through, it is likely to increase its stake in Finibanco S.A.

    Afreximbank launches its Trade Payment Service (AfPAY)

    Herbert Wigwe, the group chief executive officer of the firm, asserts that “At Access, our goal is as crystal clear as it has ever been, and our drive to capture accretive possibilities both inside and outside of Nigeria is our primary strategic focus. Angola gives our shareholders a chance to take part in what we anticipate will result in a higher value upside as Africa comes into its own as a continent.

    “We haven’t changed our mind about making these smart, well-planned investments to build a strong, all-encompassing platform that will be competitive, diverse, and interesting for many years to come”.

    Additionally, Ekwochi said that the company would keep the market up-to-date on any new information about the deal, as it was required to do by law.