COFINA banks on Oracle to get loans to underserved businesses faster

By Edlyn Cardoza

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 of strategic projects, COFINA. “Building a successful digital bank requires a platform that can run efficiently while evolving with changes in the market and alongside organisational 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.”

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.

While digital banking has opened the door for individuals in both urban and rural 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 primary 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 market segment with mesofinance. Today, the organisation 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, centralised, 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 retail and corporate banking applications, real-time payments, and digital experience. Built on microservices architecture with 3000-plus open banking APIs, Oracle Banking makes it easy for banks like COFINA to “plugin” additional Company and third-party services when they need them. It also provides a scalable, cloud-native environment for growth.