Despite these somewhat modest results, Ecobank Burkina has grand ambitions. Its aim is to be the biggest bank in the country and in pursuit of this ambition, it bought a local bank competitor in early 2008. By the time the merger is complete, Ecobank will be the biggest bank by assets, deposits, loans and branches in Burkina Faso.
The bank is serious about increasing its retail presence in the country and opened several branches in 2007, taking the total number to 16. It has also instituted a ‘direct sales agent’ push throughout the country and set up 10 Ecobank kiosks in order to tap into the unbanked in rural areas. The bank prides itself on its intensive staff training programmes and has a strict anti-money laundering policy in place.
Ecobank Burkina is a worthy winner of The Banker’s award. It operates in one of the most challenging regions in the world and still manages consistently to post net profit growth year on year and outperform its competitors. It works hard to conform to international standards and keeps ahead of the competition on pay and compensation.
Ecobank Burkina managing director Aboubacar Youssoufou is keen to keep up the good work in 2009. “We will continue to develop the small and medium-sized enterprise business segment, mortgage loans, banking services to the mining sector, improve efficiency of overall network services, extend our point of service technology, refinance public sector companies and do cash collection for wholesale customers,” he says.
