The transitional government’s chief takes a stand in the BNI Bank takeover issue

In a letter directed to the country’s leading financial officials and released by the press, the transitional government’s chief made it clear that “the whole of banking activity’s major risks induces the compulsory need of partner banks endowed with comfortable minimum capital requirements, and capable of developing banking activities as well as networks actually happening to be low in Madagascar in spite of the contributions of Credit Lyonnais and Credit Agricole into the BNI and other major banks. In this sense, the State has to fulfill its duty of financial sector regulator, namely through institutions like the Treasury Department and the Financial and Banking Supervision Commission, and complete its mission of welcoming international reference banks capable of supporting the development of national economy by providing suitable loans.” The transitional prime minister carried on by addressing the current issue: “The consortium ready and waiting to take the BNI bank’s activities over does not possess required experience to this end. Besides, the concerned group’s branches are provably running many various other businesses in sectors as varied as mortgages, mobile telephony, importation and exportation, car retailing business and so on… The BNI bank’s clients would consequently only pretty much reluctantly release the contents of their own businesses to a bank run by rival groups”