Absa Mauritius: a pioneer in banking for Africa and beyond.

The way we do business is changing alongside an evolving global context. 

Absa Bank (Mauritius) Limited recently won a series of awards for its massive efforts in offering a seamless digitalised banking experience to its clients. The bank continues to innovate in line with its strategy to provide world-class solutions that are accessible and secure, thus increasing transactional convenience for businesses, whether they operate in Mauritius, Africa or beyond. 

Absa Mauritius’ global reach in finance and business today was developed out of a carefully laid out networking strategy. As a member of the Absa Group, Absa Mauritius enjoys an extensive footprint across Africa with 10 African markets and representative offices in four countries (UK, USA, China and Middle East). Furthermore, the Group’s partnership with Société Générale extended the bank’s presence in an additional 23 African countries, giving it the ability to offer simplified engagement across the African continent. 

The bank prides itself on providing international expertise backed by in-depth local knowledge and proximity to better serve both domestic and international clients. Absa Mauritius also relies on the Group’s strong foundations as a well-capitalised bank and a diversified financial services provider listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. 

Absa Mauritius leverages the advantages of Mauritius’ positioning as an international financial hub — also underlined in the latest issue of the Absa Africa Financial Market Index (AFMI) 2021. This report is published by OMFIF in association with the Absa Group and aims at providing a benchmark for the investment community across a host of indicators that are important for financial market developments on the continent. As per the findings of the AFMI 2021, Mauritius maintains its lead in the index by being ranked second out of 23 countries, a position which can be explained by its robust legal and market environment. Mauritius also comes third in three out of the six pillars of assessment; Market depth, Market transparency and tax and regulatory environment, and Capacity of local investors.

An avant-garde institution

On multiple occasions throughout its history, Absa Mauritius has proven its capacity to lead initiatives in the local banking sector. After being established as a pioneer in Mauritius offshore banking, the bank launched a digital transformation strategy that has resulted in the introduction of ground-breaking solutions for businesses. Absa Mauritius now offers a suite of highly secure online banking support services, with the aim to better cater for a wide array of its clients’ banking needs, from the simplest to the most complex.

“As an avant-garde institution, Absa Mauritius leverages the best of emerging technologies to bring the banking industry’s operations to another level,” states Sunil Ramgobin, Head of Corporate and International Banking at Absa Mauritius. “Our tech-savvy clients run businesses on regional and international markets. We want to design the best tools that will contribute in making their financial aspirations come true. Our team has the needed foresight to provide businesses with the relevant means to transact seamlessly and securely throughout Africa and across the world, thus supporting them to be better equipped in the face of international challenges.” 

The bank’s digitally driven strategy has given Absa Mauritius the opportunity to lead the way with industry firsts on the local front, such as with Host-to-host and SWIFT solutions. These are designed with the goal to facilitate the straight-through processing of high-volume banking transactions between Absa’s banking system and business treasuries. 

The bank also launched its Absa Access single sign-on platform that gives clients access to multiple channels and greater visibility on their business portfolio. By logging in through this new service, clients can enjoy the advantages of Trade Management Online (TMO), a state-of-the-art Trade platform for businesses to proceed remotely with their import and export requirements, without having to leave the home or office.

“This platform is a convenient, paperless digital service cluster with the highest level of security for business transactions. TMO gives our clientele access to a full range of Trade financial solutions on a 24/7 basis, no matter where they are. The service caters for small, medium, large and corporate clients, who can now initiate, receive and manage the full lifecycle of our current Trade Finance product offering,” explains SaJid Bodhy, Head of Transactional Services–Wholesale. 

International recognition

This series of successful initiatives has reaped international recognition with Absa Mauritius winning multiple awards, namely ‘Best Bank in Mauritius’ and ‘Best Investment Bank in Mauritius’ by Global Finance, and ‘Best Investment Bank in Mauritius’ by EMEA Finance. On the Retail front, the bank was also awarded ‘Best Application of IoT (Internet of Things)’ and ‘Best Pure-Play Digital Current Account’ at the Middle East and Africa Innovation Retail Banking Awards 2021 by The Digital Banker.

Absa Mauritius is thus fortifying its position as the preferred financial services provider when it comes to doing business locally or in broader Africa, by knitting close connections with clients. The bank firmly believes it can contribute to economic growth by finding innovative ways to support business operations at a global level.

As Sunil Ramgobin concludes: “We deliver disruptive and game-changing solutions to help clients manage their finances with speed and intelligence. We have the bravery and passion to imagine, and the will to get things done for our clients throughout Africa and around the world.”