A survey on Perspectives on Strategic and Emerging Issues in Africa West Coast Banking conducted by PwC, shares the diverse views from senior banking executives from across banking institutions in five countries at different stages of development in Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Nigeria.
“Three common concerns seem to be top of mind for the bankers in these territories. These are credit risk management, risk management generally and improving revenue growth. Angola, Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana regard risk management as a pressing issue while in the DRC, pressing issues are skill shortages, business continuity, banking the unbanked, currency fluctuations and improving revenue growth,” says Tom Winterboer, Financial Services leader: PwC Southern Africa and Africa. Concerns in the financial services sector in Nigeria include the worsening quality of loan portfolios, ability to sell the failed banks and the stability of the Nigerian stock market.
The markets surveyed have shown a widespread shortage of skills in the banking industry with capital management and risk management skills highlighted in particular. However, other skill shortages have specific relevance on individual markets. For example, risk management skill shortages exist in the DRC while compliance skill shortages are evident in Ghana and Nigeria. Both Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana have a lack of skilled executive directors while the DRC lacks sufficient skilled non-executive directors.
The Africa West Coast Banking industry also experienced major changes which were highlighted by all the participants. Common themes include increasing levels of competition, new technologies, new bank capital requirements and the formation of credit bureaus.
The survey also invited participants to share their views on products that will become more important in their markets over the next three years. A strong emphasis will be placed on mobile banking and the issuing of credit cards whilst debit card importance is growing.
“Mortgage and asset based financing are expected to expand with the growth in the middle class in these countries. On the corporate banking side, cash management and trade finance markets are expected to increase rapidly in these countries while capital markets could play a more influential role in Cote d’Ivoire and Angola. In addition, capital markets will increase their scope and sophistication in the most developed market – Nigeria,” continues Winterboer.
While the requirement for further development of project financing was mentioned in Ghana, the need for infrastructure financing was deemed critical in Nigeria.
“This survey offers perspectives on strategic and emerging issues in these countries and establishes data on certain industry trends. It also encourages timely discussion and debate on the best options for unlocking opportunities on trends to enhance and improve performance of the various banks, and provides perspectives on how Africa West Coast banking could evolve over the next three years,” concludes Winterboer.
For an in-depth breakdown on the specific state of the banking industry in Angola, DRC, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Nigeria, download the full report at http://www.pwc.com/za.