Zenith Bank Plc has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the French government to establish a subsidiary of Zenith Bank Plc in France.

The MoU was signed by the Founder and Chairman of Zenith Bank Plc, Jim Ovia, and the French Minister for Trade, Attractiveness and French Nationals Abroad, Olivier Becht, on Friday, November 24, 2023.

Zenith Bank, in a statement on Tuesday, November 28, said the MoU will enable the bank, through its subsidiary, Zenith Bank (UK) Limited, to seek and secure the requisite regulatory approval from the Autorite’ de Controle Prudentiel et de Resolution (ACPR) to establish a strategic presence in France.

Speaking during the signing, Ovia said: “It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to Nigeria and Zenith Bank.

“I am indeed very delighted about the signing of this MoU with France. For me, it is an honour to do this on behalf of the bank, and we look forward to securing the licence and starting operations in early 2024.”

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He thanked the French Ambassador to Nigeria, Emmanuelle Blatmann, and her colleagues at the French Embassy in Nigeria for their efforts towards improving French-Nigerian business relations.

On his part, Becht said: “I want to thank you very much for your decision to open a branch of Zenith Bank in Paris. We are thrilled to welcome in France Zenith Bank’s first office inside the European Union.

“For us, that’s a very good signal, and it is undoubtedly a demonstration of mutual confidence.

“No doubt also that your vision on international finance guided you to decide to open this branch and this decision in many respects can also be regarded as a milestone in French-Nigerian economic relations and an illustration of our friendship.”

He noted that the government of President Macron had adopted a pro-business agenda in order to make France more attractive by undertaking several reforms in labour law, simplifying a lot of procedures and cutting business taxes, corporate taxes and production taxes by more than 25 billion Euros.

The minister added: “We hope that the opening of the branch of Zenith Bank in France will also be an occasion to boost the French-Nigerian business in order to have more French companies investing in Nigeria and also to have more Nigerian companies investing in France.”

The Star