September 08, 2009

Sound and attractive returns on investments, along with the resilience of the country’s banking system, are the flower nectar that attracts foreign commercial banks to Namibia. That and the studies’ findings that nearly half of the country’s adult population has no access to traditional banking facilities, in spite of the country hosting four well established banks. Hence, says the Bank of Namibia, recent interest by foreign banking institutions to set up new operations.

Bank of Namibia has for the first time in a long time issued three temporary banking licences, one of which has been turned into a representative licence. The licences have gone to the Swiss-based micro-financing outfit FIDES (Financial Systems Development Services), Nigeria’s largest commercial bank Platinum-Habib Bank (Bank PHB), while South Africa’s Absa bank has converted their provisional banking licence into a representative office licence.