(Ecofin Agency) - A new banking establishment has just been created in the Republic of Congo. It is the Banque Sino-Congolaise pour l’Afrique (BSCA – Chinese-Congolese for Africa), which was recently inaugurated according to a communiqué published on 12^th October by Sopra Banking Software, a group specialised in the software sector who built the information system of the new bank.

BSCA is the result of a joint venture between the Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) and a consortium of Congolese investors, the same source added.

BSCA was created at the instigation of the heads of state of the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of Congo. It is the first bank stemming from the joint venture between a Chinese bank and an African country and the very first international joint venture established by ABC.

The first branch of BSCA opened on 1^st July 2015 in the capital. A second branch will open in Pointe Noire by end 2016.

BSCA has the ambition of growing in other countries of the CEMAC region within the next 5 years and ultimately becoming a leading bank in Africa.

Founded in 1951, Agricultural Bank of China is the third world company in the Forbes’ ranking of the “World’s Biggest Public Companies”, with revenues of USD 189 billion in 2014.

The growing influence of China in many sectors of the African economy led ABC to create BSCA.