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ATI to open West African hub to deepen African presence

Xinhua, May 4, 2017 Adjust font size:

Pan African investment insurer, African Trade Insurance Agency (ATI) plans to open a West African hub in order to deepen its presence in Africa, officials said on Thursday.

ATI, which is owned by 13 African governments, said that the West Africa hub will enable it to open up in Anglophone West Africa.

"We already have two West African francophone states as members but we need to cover most of the region in the next two years," ATI CEO George Otieno said .

ATI which was founded in 2001 by Africa states to cover trade, political and investment risks of companies doing business in Africa reported a net profit of 6.4 million U.S. dollars for 2016.

ATI member states include Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Benin and Madagascar. Kenya is currently the largest shareholder of ATI.

The multilateral investment insurer is currently in active talks with Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon and Sierra Leone so that they join the body by investing a minimum of 7.5 million U.S. dollars.

South Sudan is set to formally join ATI in the next few months after it received a 7.5 million dollar loan from African Development Bank to activate its membership.

Otieno said that there is growing demand for ATI's products due to the decline in global commodities that has weakened the financial position in some African economies.

CEO said that ATI's board has recently approved a motion that enables it to underwrite selected deals in any Africa country. Endit