(Ecofin Agency) - Morocco’s banking groups Attijariwafa Bank and Banque centrale populaire (BCP) which are very active in sub-Saharan Africa, have signed partnership agreements with some key financial institutions in Japan to explore more opportunities in the sub-region. Agreements were signed on the sidelines of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD).

For Attijariwafa Bank, the agreement was signed between CEO Mohamed El Kettani, and Hiroshi Nagamine, Director in charge of the Africa - Middle East region of Mizuho Bank & Mizuho Financial Group. Both sides undertook to formalize a cooperation framework in the banking, financial and business sectors, in particular as regards corporate banking, international trade operations, and project finance and capital markets.

Mizuho Bank hopes to find opportunities in Central and West Africa through its partnership with Attijariwafa.

“The signature of this memorandum completes the network that our group has undertaken with major international banking institutions in order to better serve our clients around the world. An additional milestone was reached today with the Mizuho Bank group, one of the jewels in the crown of the Japanese banking industry. I am convinced that this partnership will create value for our respective customers,” commented Mohammed El Kettani of Attijariwafa.

BCP, for its part, was engaged by its Managing Director Kamal Mokdad, in an agreement in principle signed with Masahiko Oshima, Vice-President of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC). This partnership aims to support SMBC Group's Japanese and Asian customers in their investment and trade projects in Morocco, Mauritius and the countries where the BCP Group is present in sub-Saharan Africa.

“This memorandum reflects the common desire of both institutions, BCP and SMBC, to strengthen their cooperation in the strategic sectors of the different geographical areas of their presence, thus contributing to further promote the sustainable development of trade and investment activities between Japan and Africa,” said Kamal Mokdad, BCP's Managing Director.

This commitment by Japanese banks to explore more opportunities in Africa is not new. At TICAD 2016, these two banks had already signed memoranda of understanding and financing agreements with their counterparts in southern Africa. South Africa is the only country where they have representative offices.

Idriss Linge