China-Africa: Nigeria’s Intercontinental Bank to Open in China
By Paul Okolo
Dec. 23 (Bloomberg) — Intercontinental Bank Plc, Nigeria’s second-largest lender by deposits, will open branches in China and the U.S. next year to tap into growing trade between Africa’s top oil producer and the two nations.
“We’re targeting China and the U.S. in 2009 because of the trade flow,” Chief Executive Officer Erastus Akingbola said in an interview in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja. China “has become a hot project for us.”
Intercontinental would become the first Nigerian lender to operate in China, Akingbola said, without disclosing when the unit will open. Trade between the two nations was $4.3 billion last year, according to Nigerian government figures cited by Thisday newspaper on Sept. 18.
Increasing competition at home is driving banks including United Bank for Africa Plc, Nigeria’s biggest lender by deposits, Access Bank Plc, and Guaranty Trust Plc to expand overseas. Lagos-based Intercontinental, which already operates in the U.K. and Ghana, will also start operations in Dubai, Ivory Coast and Angola, Akingbola said.
While the global credit crisis has largely left Nigerian banks unscathed, Akingbola said some foreign lenders have withdrawn credit lines. Those banks are likely to return in the coming year because the Nigerian market offers interest rates of as much as 9 percent, he added.
Intercontinental repaid a $160 million one-year credit facility provided by nine foreign banks two days before a Dec. 15 deadline, providing reassurance to international lenders, Akingbola said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Okolo in Lagos pokolo@bloomberg.net
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Tags: Nigeria