Compagnie Financiere Africaine (COFINA), an Africa-based financial group in Côte d’Ivoire and majority owned by Compagnie Transnationale D’Investissement (C.T.I.), has tapped Oracle Financial Services to enhance its banking systems.
COFINA is focused on mesofinance, a relatively new concept that offers small loans starting from 1,000 Euros specifically for small-and mid-sized businesses (SMEs).
With the Oracle Banking portfolio, COFINA will bring next generation digital capabilities to the business it serves, including timely loans and a cohesive banking experience. The implementation will start with the migration of Cofina Côte D’Ivoire, one of COFINA’s nine mesofinance subsidiaries.
“We selected Oracle Financial Services to help transform our operations and services,” said Adiline Haykal, Group Director strategic projects, COFINA. “Building a successful digital bank requires a platform that can run efficiently while evolving with changes in the market and alongside organizational needs. As a first step, Oracle Banking solutions will provide Cofina Côte D’Ivoire the foundation needed to provide and adapt to consumers’ desired digital client experiences.” Listen to more on Cofina’s story here.
COFINA will use Oracle Banking technologies including Oracle FLEXCUBE Universal Banking as its digital core, Oracle Banking Digital Experience, and Oracle Banking Payment Hub, among others.
A new kind of financial institution for an underserved market
While digital banking has opened the door for individuals in both urban and rural areas of Africa to access affordable, reliable banking, financing offers for SMEs remain nearly non-existent.
Only 6.4% of African SMEs have access to bank financing even though they are the main providers of wealth and job creation in African economies. With SMEs too big for microfinancing and too small for commercial banks, COFINA dedicated itself to serving this segment of the market with mesofinance. Today, the organization has financed more than 121,000 projects worth nearly 1,544 Million USD (≈ 1,300 million euros).
“COFINA is a leader in providing inclusive banking services in West Africa,” said Venky Srinivasan, group vice president, APJ & MEA, Oracle Financial Services. “Oracle’s solutions have powered a wide variety of business models across 140 countries, from digital startups to the large incumbents. Our applications help banks differentiate with pace, agility, and responsiveness to clients. Oracle technologies will empower COFINA to deliver a more efficient, centralized, and seamless customer experience that will position them for future growth.”
Oracle Banking financial services applications enable banks to offer a complete set of digital banking services to customers. The portfolio includes the digital core and applications for retail and corporate banking, real-time payments, and digital experience. Built on a microservices architecture with 3000-plus open banking APIs, Oracle Banking makes it easy for banks like COFINA to “plug in” additional Oracle and third-party services when they need them. It also provides a scalable, cloud-native environment for growth.
Founded in 2013, the COFINA Group is the first African financial institution dedicated to mesofinance, the “missing middle” between microfinance and traditional banking which offers African SMEs easier access to credit. Present in eight African countries (Burkina Faso, Congo-Brazzaville, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Guinea, Mali, Senegal, Togo) and with a representative office in Paris dedicated to the diaspora. In recent years, COFINA Group has established itself as the reference in terms of financing SMEs in West and Central Africa.
