EXPANDING FOOTPRINT – NIGERIA’S FIRSTBANK SETS SIGHTS ON ETHIOPIA, ANGOLA, CAMEROON

<h4 class&equals;"yiv3699802769MsoNormal" align&equals;"center"><b>EXPANDING FOOTPRINT<&sol;b><&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"yiv3699802769MsoNormal"><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that more than a decade after an acquisition spree that boosted its footprint in sub-Saharan Africa&comma; First Bank of Nigeria Limited is looking to expand into several other countries&comma; including Ethiopia&comma; Angola and Cameroon&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"yiv3699802769MsoNormal">&NewLine;<p class&equals;"yiv3699802769MsoNormal">&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;There are a number of large economies with large banking pools that are of interest to us because their financial markets are opening up&comma;” Deputy Managing Director&comma; Ini Ebong told The Africa Report in December on the sidelines of the Africa Financial Industry Summit &lpar;AFIS&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"yiv3699802769MsoNormal">&NewLine;<p class&equals;"yiv3699802769MsoNormal">&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;So&comma; you look at countries like Ethiopia and Angola&period; In francophone West Africa&comma; we want to expand our presence in places like Côte d’Ivoire and Cameroon&period; The market opportunity is there&comma; and we seek to continue to exploit it&comma;” said Ebong&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"yiv3699802769MsoNormal">Ethiopia&comma; Africa’s second most populous country&comma; is poised to partially open its banking sector to foreign banks following a vote by lawmakers in December&period; The new banking law&comma; passed by a majority in parliament&comma; allows foreign banks to open subsidiaries in Ethiopia&period; Foreign firms will only be allowed to own 49&percnt; of shares&comma; according to the Ethiopian news magazine Addis Standard&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"yiv3699802769MsoNormal">&NewLine;<p class&equals;"yiv3699802769MsoNormal">Speaking during a panel session at AFIS&comma; Ethiopia’s central bank governor Mamo Mihretu said the country had been working on the legislation that would finally open the banking sector to foreign competition over the past one year&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"yiv3699802769MsoNormal">After the ratification of the legislation by the parliament&comma; the largest economy in East Africa is &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;open for business” for any banks looking to come into the country&comma; according to Mihretu&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"yiv3699802769MsoNormal">&NewLine;<p class&equals;"yiv3699802769MsoNormal">Previously the executive director in charge of treasury and international banking before his appointment in June 2024&comma; Ebong said that there are growing opportunities in markets across the continent with the expansion of financial systems similar to &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;what we saw in the early 2000s in some of the larger African markets”&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We believe it is an opportune time to take part in the phase of growth that we see&comma;” said Ebong&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"yiv3699802769MsoNormal">&NewLine;<p class&equals;"yiv3699802769MsoNormal"><b>&OpenCurlyQuote;Strong franchise’<&sol;b><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"yiv3699802769MsoNormal">FirstBank&comma; which has been operating in Nigeria for 130 years&comma; began establishing subsidiaries in other African markets in 2011&comma; when it acquired Banque International de Credit&comma; one of the leading banks in Democratic Republic of Congo&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"yiv3699802769MsoNormal">In November 2013&comma; it snapped up the subsidiaries of International Commercial Bank Financial Group Holdings AG &lpar;ICBFGH&rpar; in The Gambia&comma; Sierra Leone&comma; Ghana and Guinea&period; It went ahead to purchase ICB Senegal the following year&comma; completing its acquisition of West African assets and operations of ICBFGH&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"yiv3699802769MsoNormal">&NewLine;<p class&equals;"yiv3699802769MsoNormal">FirstBank also has a subsidiary in the United Kingdom with branches in London and Paris&comma; France&comma; as well as a representative office in Beijing&comma; China&period; Its parent company FBNHoldings saw its pretax profit for the first nine months of 2024 soar to N610&period;86bn &lpar;&dollar;395m&rpar; from N267&period;88bn in the corresponding period a year earlier&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"yiv3699802769MsoNormal">&NewLine;<p class&equals;"yiv3699802769MsoNormal">Fitch Ratings said in July last year that FirstBank&comma; Nigeria’s third-largest lender&comma; represented 10&period;7&percnt; of banking system assets at the end of 2023&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Its strong franchise supports a stable funding profile and low funding costs&period; Revenue diversification is significant&comma; with non-interest income typically exceeding 40&percnt; of operating income&comma;” it said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"yiv3699802769MsoNormal">&NewLine;<p class&equals;"yiv3699802769MsoNormal"><strong>Culled from The Africa Report<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;