Mozambique: Millennium bim is Ranked Among the Top Banks in Africa

José Reino da Costa, Vice-Chairman and CEO of Millennium bim, gives an overview of the bank.

“We have been here for 21 years and we want to stay here another 50, so we are not here just to make a small investment, take the profit and leave. We are here to stay, which I think is the best proof that we trust the country and we understand the country has a long way to go”, says José Reino da Costa.

“If we look back over the last 10-15 years, it’s true that Mozambique is among the world’s poorer countries. Everybody knows that. However, this also creates many opportunities, and we have been growing a lot. We were practically the pioneers in creating the country’s financial system, we brought the network and the ATMs to Mozambique, the POSs, mobile and internet banking. Whatever technology you can see in this market, we were the ones to introduce it to Mozambique. This we did because we trusted the country, we saw the opportunity and we understood that this was a country where you could do many things; where you could grow and be profitable”, he adds.

“Among Africa’s top banks, we are the only one in Mozambique, in the 52nd position. We have more than twice the equity of the country’s second bank. All this is due to the fact that we took a bet on the country at the right moment, we grew, we are very profitable, with fantastic ratios, and we’re here to stay. So this is what I’d like to say to other investors: in the short term, forget about the mega projects, look instead at how the country has evolved over the past 5 to 10 years, with an average pace of growth of around 7 or 8 per cent per year. We could forecast the same for the next 5 or 6 years, provided the mega-projects emerge, which would be fantastic and means we’ll have a jump, thus allowing us to do many other things. But if not, we’ll continue to bet in favour of the country”.