(Agence Ecofin) – This Ivorian commercial bank has set up a partnership with the West African fund Yeelen Financial to increase its capital by approximately $8 million, in order to comply with new regulations within the UEMOA, in terms of equity.
In Ivory Coast, Mansa Bank, whose largest shareholder with 37.50% shares, the West African banking holding company Mansa Financial Group, signed a loan agreement on Tuesday, June 25, 2024. subordinated convertible of 5 billion CFA francs ($8.1 million) with Yeelen Financial Fund.
The agreement aims to strengthen Mansa Bank’s equity capital, to enable it to meet the new share capital requirements set in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU). Its share capital will increase from 15.7 to 20.7 billion CFA francs.
To be effective, this capital increase would first have to be approved by the banking supervisory authorities of the UEMOA zone. After this step, “Mansa Bank will be able to meet the new share capital requirements set at 20 billion CFA francs, well before the entry into force deadline set on 1is January 2027″, explains the bank.
In an official note, it indicated that this capital increase will allow it to “to consolidate its competitive position and increase its capacity to support the financing needs of SMEs in the sub-region.”
Let us recall that it was the Council of Ministers of UEMOA which, during its session of December 23, 2023, decided to raise the minimum share capital of banks from 10 to 20 billion CFA francs. The measure, which came into force on December 1is January 2024, grants a period of 3 years, until 1is January 2027, for banks to comply.
Mansa Bank started its activities in January 2020. It is owned by institutions (Oasis Africa VC Fund, West African Development Bank, Askia Assurances, etc.) and private individuals (El Hassana Kaba, general manager of Mansa Bank, etc.) West Africans, and mainly Ivorian.
Chamberlain Moko
