Intensifying the banking network to cover the whole country is one of the objectives targeted by Alassane Kaboré, Managing Director of Coris Bank International Togo. This subsidiary, which has only been open for four years, shows constant annual growth of 56%, and the total balance sheet for 2018 is 140 billion FCFA.

In July 2018, you became the second managing director to take charge of the subsidiary of the pan-African banking group CBI, which has been established in Togo since 2015. You follow in the footsteps of your predecessor, but have you taken any new measures in terms of governance and market approach strategy?

Alassane Kaboré: Allow us here to salute the excellent work of our predecessor who succeeded in three years of activity in raising Coris Bank International to 7th place in the ranking of the thirteen local banks. Our mission is to consolidate these remarkable achievements and initiate new momentum in a context of regulatory change. Thus, we comply with the new requirements of Basel II and III, hence the definition of a new commercial strategy and new structures for the management and control of risks. We are also working to ensure that human capital meets the new standards in force. With regard to the market approach strategy, we focus on innovation by providing each customer segment with suitable products at reduced costs, with an emphasis on proximity, digitalization and quality of services. As such, adapting to our environment and responding quickly to the different needs of our customers are the main orientations of the bank.

When he arrived in 2015, CBI Togo aimed to position itself as a privileged partner to support its clients in their projects. After four years of operation, what is the outcome of this strategy?

Coris Bank International, since its arrival on the Togolese market, has strongly contributed to the financing of the economy and to the emergence of new very attractive products at very competitive rates both in terms of credit distribution and collection of resources. Our target – SMEs-SMIs – constitutes the majority of our customer base, thanks to our expertise in supporting this category of customers. Over the past year, we have financed several projects with investment and operating credits.

In 2018, the overall outstanding amount of direct loans increased by 36% to CFAF 65 billion. And how has the bank’s activity evolved in terms of customer volume in a narrow but dynamic Togolese market?

Our commitment to financing the national economy, innovation and quality of services has been recognized with the ISO 9001 version 2015 certification awarded at the end of 2018 by BSI. This means that supporting our customers in the realization of their projects in order to contribute to the construction of a real, solid and sustainable economy remains our ambition for the year 2019. We act for banking with the creation of several products adapted to the needs of economic agents. Thus, our client portfolio is expanding day by day with the presence of institutions, decentralized state structures, large multinational and national companies, SMEs-SMIs, informals and individuals. The number of customers increased by 30% over the first six months of 2019. We have seen a strengthening of your proximity policy with the opening of two branches in the interior of the country, in Kara and Cinkassé: your network has grown from 5 to 7 branches. Are other openings planned? Customer satisfaction is one of the imperatives of our business. To achieve this, we must bring our services closer to our customers. Thus, after having covered the Lomé area by opening 5 branches – the Principale branch, the Hedzranawoe branch, the Port branch, the Grand Marché branch and the Agoe branch – we had to pursue our strategy of occupation of the Togolese market inside the country with the Kara and Cinkassé agencies, opened a few months ago. We will continue to expand our network with the opening of three branches in Lomé as well as the installation of ATMs and cash points to strengthen proximity to our customers. Ultimately, the ambition is to cover the whole country.

As for the other subsidiaries of the CBI group, is Islamic finance programmed into your short-term activities in Togo?

We are currently working to obtain approval for the opening of this branch, the objective being to launch activities before the end of 2019.

Can you tell us about the key figures of CBI Togo’s activity in 2018 and the Bank’s growth for the past year compared to 2017? And what are your goals for 2019?

In four years of activity, it should be noted a constant annual growth of 56%: from a gross net product of 1.8 billion FCFA in 2015, we closed the 2018 financial year at 6.9 billion FCFA. We currently control more than 4% of the resources available on the market, that is to say about 70 billion FCFA. In jobs, we point to 5% of the total market, which represents more than 65 billion FCFA of financing for the national economy at the end of the 2018 financial year. In jobs, we point to 5% of the total market, which represents more than 65 billion FCFA of financing for the national economy at the end of the 2018 financial year. For the 2019 financial year, the institution has set itself the objectives of increasing its market share, improving its ranking on Togo’s banking platform, continuing to develop its branch network, including opening of the Islamic finance branch, the creation of products and services adapted to each customer segment, the development of its customer base, the improvement of its profitability and finally customer satisfaction, which will not be outdone by of our strong commitment to quality service.

Interview by Paul de Manfred