Pan-African banks and their Geneva partners

Read the PDF edition (2 pages)

The African banking landscape has been transformed by the emergence of pan-African groups, Moroccan, Nigerian, South African and East African, present in dozens of countries, which have taken over from the European banks as they withdraw.¹ For Geneva’s banks these groups are correspondents, counterparties in documentary credits, borrowers on the international markets and partners in trade finance. Their soundness and their compliance, which vary, determine the flows that Geneva’s banks are prepared to confirm and to finance. The withdrawal of correspondent banks, described in Chapter I, left a void that these groups are partly filling. The Geneva banks that have maintained or rebuilt their relations with them have an access to the continent that the others no longer possess.

The trade facilitation programmes of the development institutions, described in Part H, guarantee part of the commitments of these banks towards the confirming banks, and Geneva’s banks take part in these programmes. A financial-centre policy favourable to Africa would involve strengthening these relations, with clear compliance criteria and cooperation with African regulators, several of whom sit in the Geneva forums of financial regulation. Part J showed that language eases this cooperation with the banks of French-speaking Africa.

Notes

Business Day (South Africa), 30 July 2024, “Are pan-African banks the future as Western giants withdraw?”: Société Générale confirmed in 2023 the sale of six of its 17 African subsidiaries (the Chadian and Mauritanian branches taken over by Coris Holdings); BNP Paribas withdrew from Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Mali, South Africa and Tunisia between 2018 and 2022; Standard Chartered left Angola, Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and the Gambia in 2023 (subsidiaries taken over by Access Bank); Barclays completed in 2022 the withdrawal begun in 2016 by selling its stake in Absa; Attijariwafa Bank, Ecobank and Standard Bank cited as potential acquirers. ↩

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of September 2025.

English

Contact

Dr Alexander Ressos, TEP

Rechtsanwalt/Attorney-at-Law

I am a Swiss attorney-at-law and also admitted as a solicitor in Hong Kong and in England & Wales, with almost 25 years of experience.

Together with my multilingual team, including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Ukrainian and French native speakers, I advise companies and their owners from around the world on the full range of banking, corporate, commercial and tax law matters in Switzerland, including international tax planning, fiduciary services, and legal family office services including immigration & relocation or real estate investments. My practice has a particular focus on clients from growth and frontier markets in Greater China, Central Asia and the Caucasus, the rest of Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, and I equally advise clients from Europe and North America. Through an affiliated Swiss trust company, we also take care of the incorporation and ongoing administration of their companies and other structures, including accounting, tax returns and corporate secretarial services, and I serve as a professional director where required. With the support of a network of first-class cooperation partners, I also implement solutions worldwide.

My approach is to act as a trusted advisor who works directly with decision-makers, on an equal footing: I start from what you want to achieve and shape every structure, contract and tax decision around your commercial goals and how it improves your after-tax return. As “lawyers who make it happen”, my team and I stay involved until your company is set up, your structure is in place and your transaction has closed, and we remain available for any follow-on work that may be required. You benefit from bespoke solutions and personal attention, and sound, friendly and practical advice. We are not the lowest-cost provider in the market, nor do we intend to be; our aim is to deliver well-founded, proper solutions and excellent value for money.

Get in touch →

Pan-African banks and their Geneva partners

Notes

Setting up or expanding in Switzerland?