Groupe Banque Atlantique

Our Group continues to achieve key milestones in its development process. We have recorded considerable growth in our core markets comprised of seven of the eight countries which form the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA).
We are now ready to expand into other markets which offer potential, notably Central Africa. Our first subsidiary in that region will be launched in the second half of 2008.

Our stakeholders have renewed their trust in us and are fully supportive of our strategy to emerge as a pan-African banking group which seeks to boost regional integration through provision of world class financial services.

After consolidating our position as the second largest player in the Ivorian market, we have embarked on an institutional-wide corporate governance restructuring to align our business conduct with international best practices.

Our key objectives are to:

1. Ensure that the board plays a key role in defining strategy and establishing the risk management framework;
2.  Enhance transparency in financial reporting to boost investor confidence;
3. Achieve full compliance with regulation and improve risk management
4. Ensure transparency in our operations to instil customer confidence. 

This initiative which spans every aspect of our business is being implemented in collaboration with Nestor Advisors Ltd., a U.K based corporate governance consulting firm.

Corporate Strategy
At the core of our business strategy is (i) ensuring adequate capital and liquidity for our operations, effective asset and liability management to enhance shareholder value and (ii) building scale and efficiency through expansion of our service delivery network underpinned by product and service innovation.

Growth
After consolidating our position in francophone West Africa we are now ready to expand into Central Africa.
We shall soon start our operations in Cameroun and will use Cameroun as a launching pad into Central Africa.
We have also started negotiations to acquire three (3) Islamic banks within West Africa as part of our growth strategy. Discussions have already started with credible financial and technical partners to ensure a smooth take-off of the project.

Capitalization
In line with regulatory requirements and as part of our strategy to exploit potential business opportunities in our markets, we recently increased our capital from F CFA 25 000 000 000 (U.S$ 60.7 Million) to F CFA 35 000 000 000 (U.S$ 85 Million).  All our subsidiaries now meet already the new required minimum capital set by the regulators as of December 2009.
To fund our growth, we intend to raise an additional F CFA 15 Billion through the issue of equity and quasi equity and thus bring our capital to F CFA 50 000 000 000 (U.S$ 121.4 Million).

Service Delivery Network
In 2006, we embarked on an aggressive but well managed expansion of our service delivery channels to take banking to the door steps of our customers as well as potential customers.
This initiative has yielded positive results in terms of physical presence and growth in customer deposits.
Our service delivery network witnessed a six-fold growth from just twelve (12) branches at the end of 2006 to seventy four (74) at year end 2007. This is expected to increase to 140 branches at the end of 2008.
Customer deposits have grown by over 200% over the same period.

Portfolio
Within our short period of existence as a regional banking group, we have built a portfolio which encompasses customers from government and parastatal agencies, large multinational and local corporates, the United Nations agencies, embassies and non-governmental organisations, small to medium scale enterprises and retail customers.

Products and Services
We have become a pacesetter in product and service innovation in our markets. Our competitive advantage stems from the synergies derived from our Brokerage and Investment Banking and Technology Services units to deliver practical solutions to customers.
We were the first to introduce value and cash cards for both customers and non-customers in our market.
We have developed suitable savings and asset finance products for the diaspora in France. These products are specifically targeted at immigrants from the countries in which we operate. This is also why we are currently negotiating the buy-out of a Swiss-based company specialised in money transfer between Europe/Canada and West and Central Africa.

Correspondent Banks
To support our customers’ trade finance and foreign exchange business, we have developed solid partnerships with highly rated and credible international banks with coverage of all the major OECD countries and are members of the major clearing systems.

Our correspondent banks include:

Citi London and New York
Barclays Bank London
Standard Chartered Bank London and New York
HSBC London and New York
BNP Paribas Paris
ING Bank Brussels and Paris
Natexis Bank Paris
BHF Bank Frankfurt
Credit Suisse Zurich
Bank of Tokyo Ltd Japan

The Differentiating Factor

To achieve our mission, we acknowledge the need to have a set of values, principles and behaviours to guide our business conduct and position ourselves ahead of those of our competitors.
What sets us apart from our competitors in terms of performance?
 

1. In-depth knowledge of our markets
2. Innovation and creativity in product and service delivery
3. Keen sense of professionalism in our business conduct
4. Existence of a performance oriented management team
5. Commitment to quality customer service