BY: Hana Saada
ALGIERS- Finance Minister Laaziz Faid voiced, Tuesday, on the progress of the process of opening Algerian banks abroad.
During a plenary session at the People’s National Assembly (APN), the Minister indicated that the process of opening branches of Algerian public banks abroad, starting with a bank in France and two banks in Africa, is experiencing breakthrough.
Mr. Faid specified that “the opening of public banks abroad, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and France, is of a geostrategic nature for the Algerian State, both politically and economically”. He pointed out that this deployment was planned in the government’s Program.
The Minister recalled that the External Bank of Algeria (BEA) was working to create a branch in France in addition to the opening of two banks in Africa (Senegal and Mauritania) by four public banks, namely; the National Bank of Algeria (BNA), the People’s Credit of Algeria (CPA), the Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (BADR), in addition to the External Bank of Algeria (BEA).
External Bank of Algeria will be opened in France
Mr. Faid discussed the progress of the plans to open these three banks. Concerning the opening of a bank in France, the minister indicated that “the External Bank of Algeria follows the steps to obtain approval in France, in particular those related to the establishment of an information system responsible for preparing and submitting the application for approval to an international office”.
Stressing that the approval will be obtained during the “first half of 2023”, he specified that “the first agency will be installed at the level of the former Consulate General in Paris. The contract has been signed, and the equipment works will be completed in early March 2023”.
Algerian Union Bank in Mauritania and Algerian Bank of Senegal in Senegal
Concerning the establishment of a bank in Mauritania (under the name Algerian Union Bank), Mr. Faid specified that the authorization file for this bank was submitted at the beginning of March 2023″ and it will be “completed according to the progress of the study of the office designated for this purpose”.
It is planned, according to the minister, to “launch the Algerian Union Bank in September 2023 at the latest, taking into account the progress of the study of the office and the processing times of the file required by the Mauritanian monetary authority”.
Regarding the establishment of an Algerian bank in Senegal (Algerian bank of Senegal), the first manager of the sector said that the approval file was filed on January 19 with the monetary authorities of Senegal.
And to add that the launch of the bank is planned “in the first half of the year 2023”, given the incompressible deadlines for regulatory processing of the approval file (set at three months).
