Lisbon, Portugal, 8 May – Angolan bank Banco BIC plans to expand to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Namibia, after Portugal, as part of its strategy to support the internationalisation of Portuguese and Angolan companies, the chief executive of the bank said in Lisbon Wednesday.

Speaking to Portuguese news agency Lusa, Fernando Teles said that BIC’s internationalisation strategy followed the “needs of customers.”

“Banco BIC accounts for 34 percent of currency exchange transactions in Angola,” in a business area in which it was already leader in 2007, the manager said adding that the bank “has a customer base, also abroad, which allows it to work in other markets.”

Telese set up the bank in April 2005 and is one of its main shareholders, with 20 percent of its capital, followed by the Amorim Group and a holding company owned by Isabel dos Santos, each with 25 percent of the bank’s capital.

Since then he has been the bank’s chief executive, a role which he will carry out alongside the role of non-executive chairman of the board of director of Banco BIC Portugal, the group’s Portuguese bank.

The Portuguese bank will have the same shareholder structure as the Angolan bank and its business will be focused on internationalisation of Angolan companies and investments both in Portugal and the rest of Europe, and the management of transactions between the two countries. (macauhub)