By JAMES ANYANZWA
Regional lender Equity Bank has set up a commercial representative office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with plans to start operations in Africa’s fastest growing economy in July.
The lender has resumed its continental expansion plan, which it halted about three years ago, with a focus on entering 10 African countries by the end of this year.
“Having completed Phase One of our expansion, the entry into Ethiopia is part of our Phase Two expansion in pursuit of our aspiration of being a Pan African Bank with presence in 10 African countries by the end of the year,” group chief executive officer James Mwangi said on Thursday.
“This will enable the bank to continue to scale up and unlock economies of scale especially in this era of digitization and virtualization of banking.
Ethiopia is ranked by the International Monetary Fund as Africa’s fastest growing economy.
Equity Bank’s move comes after it announced its intentions to acquire 6.27 per cent shareholding in Atlas Mara Ltd at an estimated cost of Ksh10.7 billion ($107 million).
The Sub-Saharan African Atlas Mara Ltd, which was founded by former Barclays Plc chief executive Bob Diamond is relinquishing to Equity its operations in four markets – Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania and Zambia.
Equity Bank, with more than 13.5 million customers and 289 branches across the region, has operations in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo…Read more>>
