SGSS banks on local knowledge to succeed in West Africa

Creating a link between local expertise and a maintaining a ‘global DNA’ is key to success in the West African region according to the global head of sales and relationship management at SGSS.

Mathieu Maurier spoke to Global Custodian following SGSS’s announcement that it will expand its global custody offerings into 8 West African countries.

“Societe Generale banking group has a long standing presence in western Africa as a commercial bank so we are able to incorporate local capacity with our global presence.

“We are merging the knowhow of SGSS at a global level with the local expertise of our banking organisations on the ground to gain momentum.”

As part of its expansion SGSS will be extending its global custody offerings to nine new markets including Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, and Senegal.

Service will be provided to these countries of the West African economic and monetary union (UEMOA) through SGSS’s subsidiary Société Générale de Banques en Côte-d’Ivoire.

In a region where financial services companies have previously struggled, Maurier believes that SGSS’ previous experience in dealing with unstable regions makes it better equipped to serve this market.

“SGSS were positioned on the ground in Cote d’Ivoire as a local custodian during the coup d’état which was a challenging situation.

“We were also present in Tunisia and Egypt during the Arab Spring so the challenges we face is having to act as a bank, a local custodian or a global custodian that can accommodate situations in expanding frontier markets.”