Following the fourth rating of Baobab Senegal (formerly Microcred Senegal) in September 2019, West Africa Rating Agency (WARA) maintains the rating at BBB+/Stable/w-3 on its regional scale. At the same time, on its international scale, WARA also maintains Baobab Senegal's rating at iB+/Stable/iw-5.

WARA justifies the maintenance of the rating of the microfinance institution by the combination of several factors. First of all, Baobab Senegal's governance is rigorous: its shareholders' appetite for risk being moderate, the control and incentive mechanisms are meticulously implemented, and management is prudent. In addition, Baobab Senegal's competitive position is not only already robust, but it is also tending to improve: with 22.7% market share in terms of outstanding loans at the end of 2018, Baobab Senegal does not hide its ambition to become the leader in its market in the medium term.

In addition, Baobab Senegal's financial performance is good: despite a still high cost/income ratio, Baobab Senegal's thick margins and its quasi-systematic reinvestment policy enable it to internalize the accumulation of the necessary equity at its own pace. sustained growth. Baobab Senegal's credit portfolio is very granular and of excellent quality: notwithstanding the lack of geographic diversification beyond Senegal's borders, Baobab Senegal's credit portfolio is very highly diversified, both by counterparty and by sector. In addition, its portfolio at risk (PAR) is the lowest on the market, and its provisioning policy remains particularly conservative.

As a reminder, Microcred Senegal officially changed its name on April 30 to become "Baobab Senegal".