MCB upgrades its presence in Dubai as a new player in the Africa-Gulf corridor

There is a growing interest among Middle Eastern actors in investing in Sub-Saharan African projects and the MCB is equipped to address it.

Trade between Africa and the United Arab Emirates is growing too: since 2013, Dubai’s non-oil trade with Africa has surged by over 71 percent to exceed $50 billion in 2020. The United Arab Emirates has strong ties with Angola, Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia, South Africa, and Tanzania. Dubai, the United Arab Emirates’ business capital city, has successfully positioned itself as a major trading platform connecting Africa, Europe and Asia.

The synergies that may be created between the Mauritius International Finance Center and the DIFC to leverage more financing into Africa are boundless: this is why upgrading our presence in Dubai was vital.

By developing its first branch in the Middle Eastern region and being granted the Dubai Financial Services Authority license to provide Advising and Arranging services, MCB has been recognised as a worthy and reliable partner to fill the existing gap of UAE-based banks operating in Sub-Saharan Africa. Our ambition, consistent with our “Africa Forward Together” strategy, is to interact with local, regional banks and private players to unleash the potential of the Africa-Gulf corridor to fund Africa’s sustainable development. As one of the leaders of the African banking sector, we are also looking to our presence in the UAE to stay in tune with the sector’s major development in innovation and technology to stay in tune with our time.

As the trade between African and the Middle East or even Asia will continue to increase in the coming years, MCB brings a unique experience of doing business across the African continent, which can support the endeavour of UAE-based business players.

In 2019 alone, MCB has partnered with over 60 financial institutions across Africa, spanning 24 countries. This speaks to how our efforts to develop our activities to African markets, which were started in 2014, have paid off. Today, we can capitalise on the group’s long-standing mission in the African continent to lend our expertise in trade finance and providing tailored financial solutions to those who look to African economies as growth opportunities.

Contact us if you want to find out more about opportunities in Africa.