Making Cross-Border Banking Work for Africa
Cross-border banking has been a critical part of Africa's financial history since colonial times. While the period after independence saw a wave of nationalization across the continent, with many of the colonial banks exiting, this trend was r...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Publication |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
Eschborn, Germany: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
2014
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/01/19761778/making-cross-border-banking-work-africa http://hdl.handle.net/10986/20248 |
| Summary: | Cross-border banking has been a critical
part of Africa's financial history since colonial
times. While the period after independence saw a wave of
nationalization across the continent, with many of the
colonial banks exiting, this trend was reversed in the 1980s
with the arrival of financial liberalization. Failing
state-owned and private banks were sold mostly to global
investors or multinational banks. Increasing international
and regional economic integration, including of financial
services, and deregulation further increased the number of
foreign banks and by the mid-2000s many African banking
systems were yet again dominated by foreign banks. This
introductory chapter documents trends in cross-border
banking in Africa and the increasing shift in the
composition of foreign banks in Africa. The next section
provides a short overview of financial systems in Africa to
set the stage. Section two characterizes the population of
cross-border banks operating in Africa today, their
expansion across the continent, and their importance in the
host countries. Section three explores the reasons for the
expansion of cross-border banking on the continent. Section
four assesses the different business models banks use to
expand across the continent as well as the characteristics
of their group structures. Section five concludes. |
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