Côte d'Ivoire Financial Services

An overhaul of the regional insurance regulations in the West African CFA zone is expected to yield its best results in Côte d’Ivoire, the largest market in the sub-region. With a penetration of about 3%, according to the country’s insurance association, the Association des Sociétés d’Assurances de Côte d’Ivoire (ASA-CI), insurers are only just...

For the rural and urban poor, asset losses can be devastating. With little or no savings, a disaster could mean homelessness, while the death of a breadwinner can render an entire family destitute. Sidelined by traditional insurance, the poor have had to find alternative mechanisms by seeking support from their communities. Insurers in Côte d’Ivoire...

While the Ivoirian banking system is characterised by a diversity of service providers, it is dominated by a few players. The top three banks control 41% of all resources, the top eight control 83.3%, while 13 of the 23 banks marshal resources of less than CFA100bn (€150m). With the exception of state-owned Banque Nationale d’Investissements (BNI)...

Smaller businesses tend to face greater difficulties in accessing credit than their larger counterparts. This is particularly the case in environments of institutional under-development or legal uncertainty. Unsurprisingly, this is a challenge affecting sub-Saharan Africa in general, including Côte d’Ivoire.

After decades of turbulence, the Ivoirian banking sector is experiencing something of a renaissance. Like the economy, Côte d’Ivoire’s banking sector was growing robustly until a crisis brought on by enthusiastic lending struck in the early 1980s. Bank defaults during this period cast a long shadow, paving the way for a steady increase over the...