Vista France will catalyse diaspora investment into Africa

The Vista Group, one of Africa’s largest financial services holding company, has received approval from the French banking regulator, ACPR to establish Vista Bank in France. Vista Bank France is expected to launch in the second half of this year.

Simon Tiemtoré, Chairman of Vista Group Holding, says the new addition to the Group will be a fully-fledged, full time bank. “It will enable us to provide correspondent banking services to facilitate the promotion of trade between Africa and the rest of the world, he adds.

The bank will also corporate banking, international trade financing, factoring, foreign exchange and treasury management and advisory services.

Vista Bank France will be the Group’ first banking operation outside Africa and its first green-field bank since acquiring numerous former French banks in Africa.

In addition to facilitating trade between Africa and the world, Vista Bank France will act as a catalyst for diaspora investments. The African diaspora in Europe, the US and the Middle East has grown into millions of people.

“The African diaspora – and I’m one of them,” Tiemtoré points out, “are looking to participate in the economic development of our countries. Our governments are also seeking to mobilise the diaspora.”  

He says one of the first priorities of the new bank will be to develop products that will enable members of Africa’s diaspora to invest in their countries of origin – as well as elsewhere. The instruments, which will include bonds, will allow diaspora Africans to participate in financing the national economic and social development plans of African countries.

“The diaspora is very entrepreneurial,” he says “and is involved in businesses in Europe, the United States and the Middle East. Our platform will enable us to support them in this.

“It will also enable African entrepreneurs and large companies operating in Africa to do business with the rest of the world and benefit from Africa’s growth and enormous potential. This French structure will facilitate the movement of goods and services between Africa and the rest of the world.”

He says the aim of establishing the bank is to go beyond traditional products such as money transfers. In fact, the diaspora is looking to invest its money, and our governments are looking for ways to involve the diaspora in building the economic fabric. 

“A whole economic programme will be made available to the diaspora so that it can play its full part in the development of our countries,” says Tiemtoré.

This will include “offering advice on mobilising the resources they need for their projects. We will offer tailor-made financing, designed to support them, whether in leasing, factoring or even raising capital on the markets”, he says.

“And of course, we will play our role as correspondent bank to confirm letters of credit on behalf of our customers on both sides, to enable them to access equipment and services and thus make operational the contracts signed locally, in Africa”, he adds.

“Through our presence in France, we will also be connecting Africa to Africa through our partnership with Afreximbank in the PAPSS payment system. Vista is the local intermediary for making payments in our countries. So we are at the heart of promoting trade between Africans, and at the heart of trade between Africa and the rest of the world,” he says.

Rigorous processes

Simon Tiemtoré dismisses the notion that Africa is a risky place to invest in. “We don’t think Africa is risky!” he asserts. “And our presence in France, on the international markets, will enable us to show the world’s financiers that the risks are under control on the continent.”

He says the Group already adheres to a rigorous process of KYC (know your customer) in its businesses. “This is a necessary step in integrating our customers into the international market value chain so that they can do business with the world,” he points out.

“In this way, we are going to offer this natural link to our Vista France customers in the Vista Bank countries in Africa, who will also benefit from our presence in France to be able to access capital markets. This will also reduce costs – and transaction costs are part of the perception of risk,” he points out.

“Of course, we also have products to de-risk transactions. Vista France will act as a catalyst in mobilising capital to invest, through our banks, in the countries in which we operate, as well as guaranteeing loans directly to individuals, our customers and governments,” he explains.

“To do all this, we are forging partnerships with development finance institutions such as Afreximbank – our first strategic partner – Proparco, the Belgian BIO, the IFC, the AfDB and the IDB, not forgetting our American partner JP Morgan. These major financial institutions support us in our range of financial products.

He acknowledges that the approach to business in the diaspora is often different from that which prevails in Africa. “I think the diaspora’s problem is lack of information. We need to inform the diaspora more about the opportunities that exist in Africa. Many Africans have spent far too much time abroad, and they need to be informed about the opportunities in Africa! He argues.

On the other hand, he says, “we advise governments to promote their national development plans to the diaspora before presenting them to non-Africans. The diaspora has the capacity, the means and the resources to contract and implement energy, infrastructure, food, agriculture and water projects.”

Breath-taking expansions

As several major international banking groups withdraw from Africa, the space has opened up for ambitious African groups to make their move and Vista has been among the foremost to do so.

“Without a doubt, the fabric of African banking continues to be reshaped by the total withdrawal of international banks, something that we anticipated 10 years ago when new constraints were imposed on the major European and American banking groups through Basel III,” Tiemtoré says.

“It is up to us, as a pan-African bank, to assume our responsibility, to be in a position to acquire assets to ensure the continued financing of our economies”.

Vista Bank France is the latest move in one of the most breath-taking expansions in Africa’s banking history. Over the past few years, the Vista Group has made bold acquisitions, taking over BNP Paribas and Societe Generale’s subsidiaries in several African countries.

“2024 was marked by the acquisition of Société Générale Mozambique, which enabled us to expand our activities, he recalls. “Mozambique is a fast-growing country and many large companies operate there in the mining, oil and gas, and agricultural sectors. So we intend to capitalise on the opportunity that Mozambique offers to expand our range of services there. And through Mozambique, we are continuing to connect it with the other countries of southern Africa.”

He adds that the Group finances its acquisitions from its own resources and “we a are also supported by Afreximbank and JP Morgan in our growth strategy”.

He says that there will be other acquisitions to announce this year. Is the Group also looking to build on its expansion into France? “Yes, in London; we’re also looking at North America, Asia and the Middle East. In fact, we’re looking at strategic markets for trade between Africa and the rest of the world! And as you can see today, Africa is very much focused on Asia, as well as the Middle East and North America. It’s only natural that we should look at how we can support our customers in these countries.

“More generally, we are exploring ways and means of becoming a pan-African bank, in order to support businesses in the context of the ACFTA. The single market will require banks with the muscle and resources to cover the different regional markets. Vista Group has this ambition. In Nigeria and South Africa, for example, we have room for partnerships, while local banks are growing fast.”

However, he says: “For the moment, I think the most important thing for us is the implementation of Vista France, which facilitates our access to the international market”.