24/07/06 - Banco Caboverdiano de Negocios prepares capital increase PDF Print E-mail
ImageCape Verdean bank, Banco Caboverdiano de Negócios is preparing another capital increase, the second since it was set up a year ago, in order to finance its expansion plan, after posting its first profits, the bank said.  In the first half of this year, BCN posted operating cash flow of 45 million Cape Verdean escudos (US$518,000), while in the same period of last year it posted a negative cash flow of 6 million escudos (US$69,000), the bank’s chairman, Mannuel Chantre said.
Speaking at a press conference in Praia Friday, Chantre said that BCN’s return on equity changed from less than 0.29 percent to 2.36 percent in the same period.

Despite increased recruitment costs and increased amortizations due to investments made, the bank’s cost to income ratio fell from 120 percent to 75.2 percent.

Chantre added that as compared to the bank's first semester of activity the number of customers had increased by a third and total net assets rose by 63 percent.

Total credit granted increased three-fold, and accounted for 5 percent of the entire financial market, and customer deposits increased by around 66 percent, representing a 4 percent market share.

Cape Verde’s largest bank is currently Banco Comercial do Atlântico, which is controlled by Portuguese group Caixa Geral de Depósitos.

According to figures from the central bank, total credit, deposits and securities portfolio of BCA, as at December of last year, respectively represented 58 percent, 65 percent and 57 percent of the total financial system.

Recently the BCN increased its capital to 308 million escudos (US$3.55 million) to 500 million escudos (US$5.7 million).

According to Chantre, the amount of the new capital increase has yet to be set, but, he said, it was aimed at sustaining a “favourable operation in the market.”

The Cape Verdean financial market over the last year has attracted interest from several regional players, such as Portugal’s Banco Espírito Santo and Banco Africano de Investimentos, which is part-owned by Angolan state oil company, Sonangol.
 
[ Back ]