BY: Hana Saada
ALGIERS- The Minister of Finance, Laaziz Faid, announced, this Monday in Algiers, the opening in July of a subsidiary of the External Bank of Algeria (BEA) in France and another institution, the fruit of a shareholding of four Algerian public banks, in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott.
“BEA is in the process of opening a subsidiary in France, in parallel with the creation of two banks, the fruit of a shareholding of four public banks, in Senegal and in Mauritania,” specified Mr. Faid in a plenary session at the Council of the Nation devoted to oral questions from senators concerning the text of the law on currency and credit.
He underlined that the “subsidiary of the BEA has obtained its approval and will be operational in early July.” And to add: “The Algerian bank in Mauritania could also open its doors in July.”
According to Mr. Faid, the opening of Algerian banks abroad, particularly in France and Africa, “has a strategic character for the Algerian State on both a political and economic level,” adding that “this deployment was planned by the government program.”
The Senegalese Algerian Bank, made up of four shareholders, is managed by the BNA up to 40%, and also includes the People’s Credit of Algeria (CPA), the External Bank of Algeria (BEA), and the Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development (BADR), up to 20% each.
This bank “had obtained its approval in April, granted by the Senegalese authorities, thus becoming the first 100% Algerian public bank to be approved abroad.” The bank should begin its activity with a capital base estimated at 100 million dollars before next September.
The national banking network has 1,992 branches
Referring to the prospects for the development of the banking network and the opening of branches in the newly created wilayas, the Minister recalled that the national banking network had 1,992 branches.
He specified that the banks had recommended to the Bank of Algeria (BA) to open local banks that do not require large investments and do not submit to the same conditions as other agencies.
“Banks that do not have, to date, subsidiaries in the new wilayas are in the process of prospecting for land bases in collaboration with the local authorities in order to set up agencies there as soon as possible”, he further noted.
“Active banks, public in particular, granted more than AD 11,000 billion in investment loans at the end of 2022 to the public and private sectors,” said Mr. Faid, recalling that the processing time for loan applications has been reduced to one month at most.
This measure comes in parallel with the launch of projects to digitize credit applications and the development of an internet monitoring system for these applications.
