Citibank’s (NYSE: C) regional chief executive for Africa, Naveed Riaz, said on Friday that the company expects that its business will increase by 25% during the next two to three years in the continent.
Along with the Middle East and Europe, the New York-based bank’s business in Africa comprised about 38% of the three region’s net income in 2008.
Riaz said to Reuters that between the next two and three years, the impacts of the banks’ expansion in Africa will be significant. “It could lead to the expansion of our business by something in the range of 20-25 percent,” he said.
Citibank already has a presence in 15 countries on the continent, with its biggest operations in Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya and Algeria.
“It is very important that we cover the most important geographies in Africa, it is very clear there are three more countries, and over time there could be more, where we have to have a presence on the ground,” Riaz said.
Riaz commented that the bank was considering expanding their product offerings in areas where it is already active, such as the financing of projects.
“It is a very specialised business, whether you are talking metals, mining, power, oil, gas, soft commodities so that is clearly an area of expansion… we are looking at sector specialisation.,” he said.
