The private sector retirement pension fund, Caisse Nationale de Prévoyance Sociale (CNPS) has acquired for 22 billion CFA francs, a plot of 43,878 m2 in zone 4 of Abidjan belonging to the land heritage of the Caisse Nationale des Caisses d' Savings (CNCE, public).

This transaction, which was validated by the government at the beginning of October via a decree authorizing the sale, is part of the CNCE's restructuring plan. It further strengthens its equity. Since 2018, the CNCE has benefited from a capital of 40 billion CFA francs as part of its restructuring plan, the objective of which is to improve its solvency and profitability.

According to a report by the General Directorate of the State Portfolio (DGPE) consulted by Jeune Afrique Business+, the CNCE accumulated losses estimated at 2.3 billion CFA francs in the first quarter of 2019. But, for the first time since the launch of the recovery program, the bank will end the 2019 financial year with a positive net result.

The recovery strategy is led by Issa Tanou Fadiga, the general manager appointed in December 2017 by the government. Advisor to the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Issa Fadiga previously chaired the CNCE monitoring and restructuring committee. This banker, who worked for Sun Trust Bank in Washington, Standard Chartered Bank and Ecobank, is trying to relaunch the bank in an environment of fierce competition driven by Société Générale in Côte d'Ivoire (Socgen), by the pan-African Ecobank or by Moroccans. Atlantic Bank or Attijariwafa Bank. An environment that makes national public actors sometimes fragile and relegates them to the margins of the market.

The CNCE has not yet joined the top 10 Ivorian banks. Only the Banque Nationale d'Investissement (BNI), a public institution, is included. The CNCE, despite its network of 73 branches and the consolidation of its portfolio, has not yet reached a sufficient total balance sheet to enter the front runners.

“The restructuring also aims to strengthen governance and above all to reduce operational risks and improve the quality of the credit portfolio,” confided a CNCE manager who requested anonymity.

The CNCE renewed its executive committee in July 2018 thanks to a call for applications led by Ernst & Young. It was in June 2015, after a report by the UEMOA Banking Commission, that the governance difficulties of the CNCE were brought to light, by the dismissal of the former managing director Mamah Diabagaté, and the placing under provisional administration. form the bank. The government was forced in 2016 to inject 35 billion CFA francs into the bank to save it. Out of 130 agencies listed at the time, only 73 are operational today.