Luanda - The National Bank of Angola (BNA) recorded a reduction in bank branches from one 1,426, in 2022, to 1,356 in 2023, representing 70 percent, reported this Thursday, in Luanda, the director of the Department of Regulation and Organization of the institution's Financial System, Cândido de Pina.
According to the official, who presented the framework and balance of compliance with Notices 4/22 and 18/22, relating to the expansion of financial services and the banking network, this is due to the reduction of costs, namely BPC, BCI and the Economic Bank.
Of these bank branches, he said, Luanda has 769, Benguela 119 and Huíla with 83 branches.
Of the banks, five had 891 branches, around 63% of the total Angolan financial system, with emphasis on the Banco de Poupança e Crédito(PBC), which thus has the largest number of branches with 221 branches, followed by BFA with 190, Banco BIC with 172, Banco Sol with 159 and BAI 149.
Regarding the branch network of non-banking financial institutions, there was a reduction of 6 in the aforementioned period, due to the difficulties, for example, of currency exchange offices in continuing the business.
Of these agencies, Kixi Crédito stands out, which is a micro credit company, represented with 30 agencies spreaded in all provinces of the country.
He made it known that the representation of financial services, within the scope of the expansion from October 2023 to January 2024, there was a decrease in the number of municipalities without representation of financial services.
“There were 7 municipalities without services representation and currently there are 3 municipalities without financial services representation. All in the province of Cuando-Cubango”, he asserted.
He indicated that there are 1,426 bank branches in the country, distributed across 100 municipalities, 3,548 ATMs in 126 municipalities, 181,722 Automatic Payment Machine, distributed across 18 provinces, 665 banking agents in 134 municipalities and 2,388 payment agents in the 18 provinces.
The conference represents the 1st edition of the BNA's 2024 Annual Conference Cycle, as the institution assumes the responsibility of addressing topics regarding its mission to the financial system and reflecting on the current scenario every two months.
Members of the BNA Board of Directors, representatives of banking and non-banking financial institutions, the Ministry of Telecommunications, Information Technology and Social Communication, and the Secretary of State for Local Authorities were part of the event. ML/AC/CF/DOJ
