Its official name is Eco- Bank Transnational Inc (ETI), it is a pan-African banking conglomerate, with banking operations in 36 African countries. It is the leading independent regional banking group in West Africa and Central Africa serving wholesale and retail customers. It also maintains subsidiaries in Eastern and Southern Africa. ETI has representative offices in Angola, China, Dubai, France, South Africa and the United Kingdom.
Overview
ETI is a large financial services provider with offices in 36 countries around the world and presence in 36 sub-Saharan countries. As of December 2012, ETI’s customer base was estimated at 13.7 million with 9.6 million (70.2%), located in Nigeria, the continent’s most populous nation. ETI’s branch network numbered 1,305, with 1,981 networked ATMs.
Group network
By June 2014, Eco-bank Transnational had banking operations in 36 African countries, with representative offices in Angola, Beijing, Dubai, Ethiopia, South Africa and the United Kingdom:
Eco-bank Transnational has operational bank subsidiaries in the following countries, as of July 2013:
Africa
Eco-bank Angola – (Representative office in Luanda)
Eco-bank Benin
Eco-bank Burkina Faso
Eco-bank Burundi
Eco-bank Cameroon
Eco-bank Cape Verde
Eco-bank Central African Republic
Eco-bank Chad
Eco-bank Congo Brazzaville
Eco-bank Côte d’Ivoire
Eco-bank Democratic Republic of the Congo
Eco-bank Ethiopia – (Representative office in Addis Ababa)
Eco-bank Equatorial Guinea
Eco-bank Gabon
Eco-bank Gambia
Eco-bank Ghana
Eco-bank Guinea
Eco-bank Guinea-Bissau
Eco-bank Kenya
Eco-bank Liberia
Eco-bank Malawi
Eco-bank Mali
Eco-bank Mozambique
Eco-bank Niger
Eco-bank Nigeria (includes Oceanic Bank)
Eco-bank Rwanda
Eco-bank São Tomé and Príncipe
Eco-bank Senegal
Eco-bank Sierra Leone
Eco-bank South Africa (Representative office in Johannesburg)
Eco-bank South Sudan
Eco-bank Tanzania
Eco-bank Togo
Eco-bank Uganda
Eco-bank Zambia
Eco-bank Zimbabwe
Outside Africa
Paris, France – Affiliate office
London, United Kingdom – France affiliate representative office
Dubai, United Arab Emirates – Representative office
Beijing, China – Representative office
History
ETI is a public limited liability company which was established as a bank holding company in 1985 under a private sector initiative spearheaded by the Federation of West African Chambers of Commerce and Industry with the support of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). In the early 1980s the banking industry in West Africa was dominated by foreign and state-owned banks. There were hardly any commercial banks in West Africa owned and managed by the African private sector. ETI was founded with the objective of filling this vacuum.
The Federation of West African Chambers of Commerce promoted and initiated a project for the creation of a private regional banking institution in West Africa. In 1984, Eco-promotions S.A. was incorporated. Its founding shareholders raised the seed capital for the feasibility studies and the promotional activities leading to the creation of ETI.
In October 1985, ETI was incorporated with an authorized capital of US$100 million. The initial paid up capital of US$32 million was raised from over 1,500 individuals and institutions from West African countries. The largest shareholder was the ECOWAS Fund for Cooperation, Compensation and Development (ECOWAS Fund), the development finance arm of ECOWAS. A Headquarters’ Agreement was signed with the government of Togo in 1985 which granted ETI the status of an international organization with the rights and privileges necessary for it to operate as a regional institution, including the status of a non-resident financial institution.
ETI has two specialized subsidiaries: Eco-bank Development Corporation (EDC) and e-Process International (e-Process). EDC was incorporated with a broad mandate to develop Eco-bank’s investment banking and advisory businesses throughout the countries where Eco-bank operates. EDC operates brokerage houses on all 3 stock exchanges in West Africa and has obtained licenses to operate on the two stock exchanges in Central Africa: the Douala Stock Exchange in Cameroon and the Libreville Exchange in Gabon. The mandate of e-Process is to manage the Group’s information technology function with a view to ultimately centralizing the Group’s middle and back office operations to improve efficiency, service standards and reduce costs.
Subsidiaries
The Specialized subsidiary companies of Eco-bank include the following:
EBI SA Groupe Eco-bank – Paris, France
EBI SA Representative Office – London, United Kingdom
Eco-bank Development Corporation (EDC) – Lomé, Togo
EDC Investment Corporation – Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
EDC Investment Corporation – Douala, Cameroon
EDC Securities Limited – Lagos, Nigeria
EDC Stockbrokers Limited – Accra, Ghana
Eco-bank Asset Management – Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
E-Process International SA – Accra, Ghana
Eco-bank Asset Management Company P/L – Harare, Zimbabwe