Ecobank Transnational planned to start full banking operations in Angola in about six months, Africa’s most geographically diverse lender said on Tuesday.
“We have to be in Angola – Angola is one of the big four revenue generators” in Africa, Albert Essien, the chief executive of Togo-based Ecobank, said.
“In six, six-plus months we should be in Angola operating as a bank.”
The company, which trades on three African exchanges and operates in 35 nations on the continent, has a representative office in Angola.
Angola’s government is forecasting economic growth of between 5 percent and 7 percent this year.
Ecobank’s full-year net income fell to $147.8 million (R1.5 billion) in 2013 from a restated $287m a year earlier, it said on April 30. – Bloomberg