The French telecom giant, Orange, announces the upcoming expansion of its banking operations in Africa following the launch of its digital bank launched in France in 2017.
Orange has also submitted a request for a banking license to the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) and hopes to start operations in the 8 countries of the zone by the end of the year.
Participating in the sixth edition of the Africa Business Leaders Forum, Africa CEO Forum currently being held in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, the Deputy Director General for Africa and the Middle East, Bruno Mettling, has also stated that Orange does not aspire to become a “full service bank”.
“Our mission is to enter the mass market and provide banking services to people who do not have access. We will not become a traditional bank as we will not open our services to companies, investment banks. ”
Note that the bank, which will be headed by a partner not yet named, is based on the mobile platform Orange Money, launched in 2008 in Africa and has 12 million active customers in 18 countries of the continent.
Orange Money transactions reached 14.5 billion euros in 2016 with a 60% increase of 60% compared to 2016-17.
