Luanda, Sept. 12, 2025 (Lusa) - The president of the Angolan Banking Association (ABANC) said on Friday that the entry of the African Bank of Oman (ABO) into the Angolan financial system should bring improvements in service quality, technological innovation and greater competition to the country.
Mário Nascimento believes that the entry of an international banking institution into Angola always brings about an improvement in the quality of services and competition in the Angolan banking sector.
"Therefore, we believe that the entry of a bank from a jurisdiction other than Angola, in addition to the Portuguese and South African banks we already have here, can bring technological innovation and greater competition," he told Lusa today when asked about ABO's entry into Angola and the departure of Russian bank VTB Africa, which is in liquidation.
According to the economic newspaper Expansão, ABO is the new banking institution authorised by the National Bank of Angola (BNA) to carry out financial activities in the country, "currently in the process of starting operations", while the Russian VTB is in liquidation, "following the voluntary dissolution by its shareholders".
The president of ABANC also pointed out the current challenges facing Angolan banks, which, in his view, are centred on the "extremely demanding" regulations that have been implemented by the central bank (BNA), which seeks equivalence with the supervision of the European Central Bank (ECB).
"The most relevant challenges for Angolan banks have to do with regulation. The regulation that the BNA is implementing is extremely demanding. The BNA is seeking equivalence with ECB supervision, which implies banking regulation based on European sources, especially in the area of supervision," he stressed.
"And that implies some challenges in our banking system, which is that we have institutions implementing these extremely demanding regulations in a timely manner," he said on the sidelines of the XV Banking Forum, promoted in Luanda by the newspaper Expansão.
For Mário Nascimento, Angolan commercial banking must also prepare for "the challenges of economic integration in the regional space, which means having banks that are able to compete with regional banks and also able to offer products."
The president of the Angolan Banking Association also commented on the initial public offering (IPO) of 29.75% of the capital of Banco Fomento Angola (BFA), considered the largest operation ever on the Angolan stock market, which should yield more than €200 million to shareholders, considering that it reflects the credibility of the sector.
"It is another step towards enhancing the credibility of the banking system and, on the other hand, it is also a way for banks to test what could become another source of financing for their capitalisation and also give our capital market access to more companies available for financing the economy," he said.
Regarding the theme of this edition of the Banking Forum, ‘The Value and Profitability of Banks in Angola,’ Mário Nascimento considered that the more focus there is on the value of banking institutions and their profitability, "the more they will be available to finance the economy."
"Because banks are private companies, in general, and as companies they seek profit, and if they are profitable they are also more available to finance the economy," concluded the president of the Banking Association (ABANC).
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