Ecobank, whose official name is Ecobank Transnational Inc. (ETI), is a pan-African banking
conglomerate, with banking operations in 36 African countries. It is the leading independent regional banking group in
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, M ...
and
Central Africa
Central Africa is a subregion of the African continent comprising various countries according to different definitions. Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo ...
, serving wholesale and retail customers. It also maintains subsidiaries in
Eastern
Eastern may refer to:
Transportation
*China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai
*Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways
*Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991
*Eastern Air Li ...
and
Southern Africa
Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number o ...
. ETI has representative offices in
Angola
, national_anthem = " Angola Avante"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capital = Luanda
, religion =
, religion_year = 2020
, religion_ref =
, coordina ...
,
China,
Dubai
Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
,
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
, and the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
.
Overview
ETI is a large financial services provider with offices in 36 countries around the world, and presence in 36
sub-Saharan
Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the African co ...
countries. , ETI's customer base was estimated at 13.7 million, with 9.6 million (70.2%), located in
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
, the continent's most populous nation. ETI's branch network numbered 1,305, with 1,981 networked
ATMs.
Group network
, Ecobank Transnational had banking operations in 36 African countries, with representative offices in Angola, Beijing, Dubai, Ethiopia, South Africa and the United Kingdom:
Ecobank Transnational has operational bank subsidiaries in the following countries, as of July 2013:
;Africa
* Ecoboank Angola - (Representative office in Luanda)
* Ecobank Benin
* Ecobank Burkina Faso
* Ecobank Burundi
* Ecobank Cameroon
* Ecobank Cape Verde
* Ecobank Central African Republic
* Ecobank Chad
* Ecobank Congo Brazzaville
* Ecobank Côte d'Ivoire
* Ecobank Democratic Republic of the Congo
* Ecobank Ethiopia - (Representative office in Addis Ababa)
* Ecobank Equatorial Guinea
* Ecobank Gabon
* Ecobank Gambia
*
Ecobank Ghana
Ecobank Ghana is a commercial bank in Ghana. It is one of the commercial banks licensed by the Bank of Ghana, the national banking regulator.
Overview
EBG is a member of the Pan-African Ecobank chain which operates in thirty two (32) countries. T ...
* Ecobank Guinea
* Ecobank Guinea-Bissau
*
Ecobank Kenya
Ecobank Kenya is a commercial bank in Kenya. It is one of the commercial banks licensed by the Central Bank of Kenya, the central bank and national banking regulator.
Overview
On 16 June 2008, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated acquired 75% of EA ...
* Ecobank Liberia
* Ecobank Malawi
* Ecobank Mali
* Ecobank Mozambique
* Ecobank Niger
*
Ecobank Nigeria
Ecobank Nigeria Limited, commonly referred to as Ecobank Nigeria, is a commercial bank in Nigeria. It is one of the commercial banks licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria, the national banking regulator.
Overview
The bank began operations in 1 ...
(includes
Oceanic Bank
Oceanic Bank International, commonly referred to as Oceanic Bank, was a bank in Nigeria that provided individual, commercial and corporate banking services.
History
Oceanic Bank was incorporated on March 26, 1990, as a private limited liability ...
)
*
Ecobank Rwanda
Ecobank Rwanda, whose full name is Ecobank Rwanda Limited, formerly Bank of Commerce, Development and Industry (BCDI), is a commercial bank in Rwanda, licensed and supervised by the National Bank of Rwanda, the central bank and national banking ...
* Ecobank São Tomé and Príncipe
* Ecobank Senegal
* Ecobank Sierra Leone
* Ecobank South Africa (Representative office in Johannesburg)
* Ecobank South Sudan
* Ecobank Tanzania
* Ecobank Togo
*
Ecobank Uganda
Ecobank Uganda is a bank in Uganda that operates as a commercial bank under a license granted by the Bank of Uganda, the central bank and national banking regulator.
Location
The headquarters of Ecobank Uganda are located at Plot 8A, Kafu Road, ...
* Ecobank Zambia
*
Ecobank Zimbabwe
Ecobank Zimbabwe Limited (EZL), is a commercial bank in Zimbabwe. It is one of the commercial banks licensed by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and a subsidiary of Togo-based Ecobank.
Ecobank Zimbabwe is a small financial services provider in Zimba ...
;Outside Africa
*
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
- Affiliate office
*
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
,
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
- France affiliate representative office
*
Dubai
Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...
,
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...
- Representative office
*
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
,
China - Representative office
History
ETI, a public limited liability company, was established as a bank holding company in 1985 under a private sector initiative spearheaded by the Federation of West African Chambers of Commerce and Industry, with the support of the
Economic Community of West African States
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS; also known as in French and Portuguese) is a regional political and economic union of fifteen countries located in West Africa. Collectively, these countries comprise an area of , and in ...
(ECOWAS). In the early 1980s the banking industry in West Africa was dominated by foreign and state-owned banks. There were hardly any commercial banks in West Africa owned and managed by the African private sector. ETI was founded with the objective of filling this vacuum.
The Federation of West African Chambers of Commerce promoted and initiated a project for the creation of a private regional banking institution in West Africa. In 1984, Ecopromotions S.A. was incorporated. Its founding shareholders raised the seed capital for the feasibility studies and the promotional activities leading to the creation of ETI.
In October 1985, ETI was incorporated with an authorised capital of US$100 million. The initial paid up capital of US$32 million was raised from over 1,500 individuals and institutions from West African countries. The largest shareholder was the ECOWAS Fund for Cooperation, Compensation and Development (ECOWAS Fund), the development finance arm of ECOWAS. A Headquarters’ Agreement was signed with the government of Togo in 1985 which granted ETI the status of an international organisation with the rights and privileges necessary for it to operate as a regional institution, including the status of a non-resident financial institution.
ETI has two specialised subsidiaries: Ecobank Development Corporation (EDC) and eProcess International (eProcess). EDC was incorporated with a broad mandate to develop Ecobank’s investment banking and advisory businesses throughout the countries where Ecobank operates. EDC operates brokerage houses on all 3 stock exchanges in West Africa and has obtained licences to operate on the two stock exchanges in Central Africa: the Douala Stock Exchange in Cameroon and the Libreville Exchange in Gabon. The mandate of eProcess is to manage the Group’s information technology function with a view to ultimately centralising the Group’s middle and back office operations to improve efficiency, service standards and reduce costs.
Governance lapses
Ecobank has been marred by several well publicized governance lapses:
The sacking and reinstatement of the CFO in 2014 after she alleged: "... Mrs. Do Rego sent a letter to the SEC alleging that the Chairman, Mr. Lawson and GCEO Mr.Tanoh were attempting to sell non-core assets at values below market, that both individuals ‘attempted’ to manipulate the 2012 results to enable the Group (ETI) to show a much better 2013 growth, and she questioned procedures around the approval of a substantial increase in Mr.Tanoh’s 2012 bonus (which he subsequently opted not to receive). She also alleged that she was asked to write off debts owed by a real estate company Mr. Lawson chairs..."
The Chairman resigned but later sued Ecobank to force them to investigate the allegations backed by an confidential E&Y audit report on serious allegations of Fraud.
" As the Chairman of the Board at the time the EY investigation was commissioned, I instructed my lawyers to write a letter to the Board expressly warning them of the illegality of presenting these accounts to the shareholders without making full disclosure of the facts. This letter was delivered to board members on the 26th June 2014 (See Appendix 1). Unfortunately the letter was ignored by the Board of ETI and this obvious dereliction of duty continues to date"
Ecobank then settled the matter with the chairman and absolved him of any wrongdoing.
Subsidiaries
The Specialized subsidiary companies of Ecobank include the following:
* EBI SA Groupe Ecobank -
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
* EBI SA Representative Office -
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
,
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
* Ecobank Development Corporation (EDC) -
Lomé
Lomé is the capital and largest city of Togo. It has an urban population of 837,437 ,
Togo
Togo (), officially the Togolese Republic (french: République togolaise), is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its c ...
* EDC Investment Corporation -
Abidjan
Abidjan ( , ; N’ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. As of the 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of overall population of the country, making it the sixth most populous city p ...
,
Côte d’Ivoire
* EDC Investment Corporation -
Douala
Douala is the largest city in Cameroon and its economic capital. It is also the capital of Cameroon's Littoral Region. Home to Central Africa's largest port and its major international airport, Douala International Airport (DLA), it is the com ...
,
Cameroon
Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...
* EDC Securities Limited -
Lagos
Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national capital of Nigeria until December 1991 fo ...
,
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
* EDC Stockbrokers Limited -
Accra,
Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...
* Ecobank Asset Management -
Abidjan
Abidjan ( , ; N’ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. As of the 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of overall population of the country, making it the sixth most populous city p ...
,
Côte d’Ivoire
* e-Process International SA -
Accra,
Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...
* Ecobank Asset Management Company P/L -
Harare
Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its metropolitan ...
,
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...
The Ecobank Nedbank alliance
With more than 1,500 branches in 35 countries, the
Ecobank
Ecobank, whose official name is Ecobank Transnational Inc. (ETI), is a pan-African banking conglomerate, with banking operations in 36 African countries. It is the leading independent regional banking group in West Africa and Central Africa, se ...
-
Nedbank
Nedbank Group is a financial services group in South Africa offering wholesale and retail banking services as well as insurance, asset management, and wealth management. Nedbank Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nedbank Group.
Nedbank's ...
Alliance is the largest banking network in Africa. The alliance was formed in 2008 between the Ecobank Group and the Nedbank Group, one of
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
's four largest financial services providers, with a growing footprint of operations across the
Southern African Development Community
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is an inter-governmental organization headquartered in Gaborone, Botswana.
Its goal is to further regional socio-economic cooperation and integration as well as political and security coopera ...
.
Ownership
The shares of Ecobank Transnational Inc., the parent company of Ecobank, are traded on three
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, M ...
n stock exchanges, namely: the
Ghana Stock Exchange
The Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) is the principal stock exchange of Ghana. The exchange was incorporated in July 1989 with trading commencing in 1990. It currently lists 42 equities (from 37 companies) and 2 corporate bonds. All types of securiti ...
(GSE), the
Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) and the
BRVM stock exchange in
Abidjan
Abidjan ( , ; N’ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. As of the 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of overall population of the country, making it the sixth most populous city p ...
,
Ivory Coast. , the ten largest shareholders in Ecobank Transnational were as follows:
See also
*
Ecobank Ghana
Ecobank Ghana is a commercial bank in Ghana. It is one of the commercial banks licensed by the Bank of Ghana, the national banking regulator.
Overview
EBG is a member of the Pan-African Ecobank chain which operates in thirty two (32) countries. T ...
*
Ecobank Nigeria
Ecobank Nigeria Limited, commonly referred to as Ecobank Nigeria, is a commercial bank in Nigeria. It is one of the commercial banks licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria, the national banking regulator.
Overview
The bank began operations in 1 ...
*
Ecobank Uganda
Ecobank Uganda is a bank in Uganda that operates as a commercial bank under a license granted by the Bank of Uganda, the central bank and national banking regulator.
Location
The headquarters of Ecobank Uganda are located at Plot 8A, Kafu Road, ...
*
Ecobank Zimbabwe
Ecobank Zimbabwe Limited (EZL), is a commercial bank in Zimbabwe. It is one of the commercial banks licensed by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and a subsidiary of Togo-based Ecobank.
Ecobank Zimbabwe is a small financial services provider in Zimba ...
References
External links
*
Ecobank official siteEcobank Transnational Incorporated at Nigerian Stock ExchangeEcobank Nigeria at Nigerian Stock Exchange
Modern Ghana, article 'Ecobank Takes over BICA in CAR'*
Company Profile At Bloomberg.com
{{Authority control
Banks of Togo
Companies listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange
Companies listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange