Coris Bank International, a Burkina Faso-based banking group led by Idrissa Nassa, has closed a €500-million ($526.8 million) trade finance line with the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), a pan-African multilateral trade finance institution.
The trade finance line, signed by Benedict Oromah, chairman of Afreximbank Group, and Nassa, chairman of Coris Bank, was closed on the sidelines of Afreximbank’s general meetings, which were held in Cairo from June 15 to 18.
Coris Bank International will finance the supply of basic necessities and consumer products for the benefit of the populations of the nine countries represented by the bank, in accordance with the terms of the strategic partnership and the accompanying multimillion dollar trade finance line.
While commenting on the recent partnership, which corresponds to significant inflows of foreign currency for the West African Economic and Monetary Union zone, Nassa said it is critical for private actors to take proactive actions to change and deliver growth for African society.
“We, the private actors, must work to change Africa,” he said. “This will entail strengthening the infrastructure of financial institutions like us, who work with African institutions on a daily basis.”
Since Nassa founded Coris Bank in 2008, the Burkina Faso-based financial services group’s capital has grown from $3 million to $9 billion through the broad-based operations of its subsidiaries in Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, Togo, Senegal, Benin, Niger, and Guinea-Bissau.
Under Nassa’s leadership, Coris Bank has evolved into a leading player in the West African financial services industry, having built its development strategy around a unique industrial model tailored to the specificities of its areas of presence.
Nearly three weeks ago, Nassa’s Coris Bank launched the headquarters of its Ivory Coast operations in Abidjan, the nation’s largest city.
The property, which is located at Boulevard Valery Giscard d’Estaing in Abidjan’s swanky Treichville neighborhood was inaugurated at a ceremony on May 28 by Adama Coulibaly, Ivorian economy minister, who represented Tiemoko Meyliet Kone, vice president of Cote d’Ivoire.
