(Business in Cameroon) - The rumour has been going around since June: Afriland First Bank has bought the Congolese bank First International Bank (Fibank SA). But on 11 July 2017, businessincameroon.com was able to confirm it from authorised sources within the Cameroonian buyer.

“The information is correct. We acquired Fibank, but it has been done since this past month of June [2017]. It just happens that the communication about this transaction is currently under preparation. We will provide information at the appropriate time”, said a source inside Afriland First Bank, in Yaoundé. The same source confirms that the assets and liabilities of Fibank were bought on 12 June 2017 in Kinshasa, DR Congo. This acquisition comes after the Governor of the Central Bank of Congo, Deogratias Mutombo, rather announced, a few days prior, the dissolution of Fibank.  

Deogratias Mutombo explained that the shareholders of Fibank were not capable of bringing additional equity, and even less of opening the shareholding of this “ailing” bank to other investors. Though the acquisition price of the Congolese bank has not yet been revealed, we know that Fibank required a recapitalisation of approximately USD 40 million, representing close to FCfa 23 billion.

Sylvain Andzongo