The board of directors of ARC analysed the process and "unanimously decided not to oppose the aforementioned merger", according to the decision to which Lusa had access.
According to the competition regulator, the merger of the two banking institutions "is not likely to create significant obstacles to effective competition" in the market.
On 3 April, ARC had been notified of the intended merger between the companies Access Bank Angola, S.A (acquirer) and SCBA.
Access Bank Angola is owned by the Nigerian Access Bank Plc, which in 2023 completed the purchase of shares in the Portuguese Finibanco from the Portuguese bank Montepio (with 51 percent of the shares), as well as from shareholders Mário Palhares (who held 35 percent of the share capital), Francisco Simão Júnior (4 percent), João Avelino dos Santos (4 percent) and another 5 percent, totaling 99.80 percent of the bank's shares, according to the business newspaper Expansão.
This Nigerian bank also acquired the activities of the British SCBA, acquiring 60 percent of its share capital. As for the remaining 40 percent, Access Bank made an offer to the National Insurance Company of Angola (ENSA), which holds the shares, to acquire all of the bank's shares.
ENSA is part of the Privatization Program (ProPriv) and intends to privatize 51 percent of its shares on the stock exchange in 2024, the publication highlights.
For the ARC, the parties involved in the merger act at the same level in the markets, and with the implementation, there is an "irrelevant horizontal overlap" of activities related to investment, corporate and retail banking.
The assessment, the regulator highlights in the deliberation, "demonstrates that there are no conditions for strategic action, on the part of the acquirer, capable of restricting or distorting competition" and "does not present evidence that could create significant obstacles to effective competition or potential relevant market identified".
The competition regulatory authority also recalls, in its deliberation, having requested, last April, the National Bank of Angola (BNA), the regulator of the financial and non-financial sector, to pronounce itself on the aforementioned merger, and received no response, after the deadline of 15 working days had expired.
Notification to the sector regulator (BNA) "is mandatory" but the issuing of an opinion on a specific act of concentration of companies "is not mandatory, nor is it binding for the purposes of the ARC's decision".
