SGSS teams up with SGBCI’s securities services in Ivory Coast
SGSS has extended its global offer by including securities services activities in Ivory Coast through Societe Generale de Banques en Côte d'Ivoire (SGBCI), the Societe Generale Group subsidiary in the country. With over 50 years experience, SGBCI is a benchmark reference in West African banking and is the leading bank in Ivory Coast.
SGBCI has been providing local securities services in Ivory Coast for 28 years. SGSS teamed up with SGBCI in January 2014, from offices located within the bank in Abidjan, and will use its recognised global expertise and experience to further strengthen its existing pan-African activities and develop a securities services offer across the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) region. SGSS will now provide settlement-delivery and custody services from Ivory Coast through the local platform that has been upgraded to include Swift connectivity and enhance instruction and corporate actions management. These services, which are fully compliant with international industry standards, will be available to clients in 8 countries within the CFA franc WAEMU region: Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo.
This new strengthened set-up provides SGSS’ clients with a single entry point into West Africa and consolidated position reporting for the entire region. The offer is aimed at a clientele of international brokers and global custodians, as well as institutional investors in West Africa.
Following SGSS’ expansion in Africa over the past two years, where it has created a custody hub in South Africa and opened new offices in Ghana and Tunisia, this service extension in Ivory Coast is a further step in SGSS’ strategy to become a major securities services player on the African continent, a region which is undergoing rapid growth, and to provide domestic and international clients with reliable and high-quality products and services for their operations and development.