Only four years after its arrival in the African banking ecosystem, the National Bank of
Canada reportedly decided to pack up after more than $33 million in losses in Côte d'Ivoire and a
unsuccessful acquisition project in Mauritius. The Quebecer would seek buyers for its assets in the
bancassurance group NSIA and the Mauritian bank AfrAsia.
The decision should be effective in the short or medium term, according to Le Journal de Montreal, which revealed
information this Thursday: the National Bank of Canada is preparing to withdraw from the African markets. The group
Quebec financial institution would have decided to sell its shares in the Ivorian bancassurance group NSIA and in
the Mauritian bank AfrAsia. The BNC would have taken this decision, according to the same source, after having suffered
“a loss of 33 million dollars” on its investment in NSIA, following the bankruptcy of Saf-Cacao , the
leader in cocoa trading in Côte d'Ivoire and major client of the bank-insurance group. In Mauritius, the
withdrawal of the BNC would come from the fact that the Quebec bank holding 17.5% of AfrAsia, wants more. Corn,
its main partner, the local investment group IBL, would refuse to sell its stake to it. Read
also: Ibrahima Diouf: “It is now up to African banks to conquer the world” This
African adventure therefore only lasted four years for BNC, which made these investments,
strategic times, in 2015 to the tune of 200 million dollars respectively in NSIA and 33 million
dollars in AfrAsia. If NSIA recruits in Togo, the group of the wealthy Ivorian Jean Kacou Diagou is
faced with difficulties within its entity in Côte d'Ivoire, with in particular a dispute over
old transactions. Moreover, the Ivorian bancassurance group is the biggest loser in the
bankruptcy of Saf-Cacao within the local banking sector. As a result, despite its successful IPO on the
BVRM in 2017, the majority acquisition of Diamond Bank's assets in French-speaking Africa, the arrival among
the shareholders of the group of global giants such as the Swiss reinsurer Swiss Re or its recent partnership
with the French telecom operator Orange, NSIA must compose to go up the slope. departure
probably imminent of the National Bank of Canada therefore feeds curiosity about the identity of
the investor who agrees to take over his assets.