Standard Bank set to open Ivory Coast branch

Abidjan - Standard Bank [JSE:SBK] has decided to push forward with plans to open a new Ivory Coast-based branch to expand its operations to French-speaking West Africa, the bank's country manager said on Thursday.

The bank, Africa's biggest lender by assets, opened a representative office in Ivory Coast's commercial capital Abidjan in early 2014.

Herve Boyer told Reuters that Standard's board approved the conversion of the office into a branch last week.

"We have refocused the bank on Africa, and definitely one part of the puzzle was missing, which is francophone Africa," he said. "Right now we think is a good time to transform the rep office into a full branch of the group."

Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa grower, has emerged as one of Africa's fastest-growing economies since a brief 2011 civil war ended more than a decade of political turmoil.

A presidential election in October could open the door to a flood of new foreign investment if, as expected, it is held without major incident.

Following three years of heavy investment in large-scale infrastructure, Prime Minister Daniel Kablan Duncan told Reuters in March that he expected double-digit growth this year and every year up to 2020.

Boyer said that Standard Bank planned to apply for a banking licence that would it allow it to operate across the West African Economic and Monetary Union, an eight-member bloc that shares a common CFA franc currency pegged to the euro.

Ivory Coast, a regional business and transport hub, makes up around 40% of the zone's economy. The other member states are Senegal, Benin, Burkina Faso, Togo, Mali, Niger and Guinea Bissau.

Standard Bank must now seek approval from the South African Reserve Bank to open the branch and apply for a licence with the Central Bank of West African States.

Boyer said the bank is targeting the first quarter of 2016 for the branch's opening.