French bank BRED Banque Populaire – part of the second-largest banking group in France – is planning to start commercial operations in Ethiopia, marking the first foray for a European bank in the country.

“We are talking with Ethiopian officials to see how we can get into Addis Ababa. It is a key geostrategic point to develop our activity in the region,” the managing director, Olivier Klein told French business daily, Les Echos on February 27.

Bred, which has been present since 2000 in New Caledonia, has developed successively in Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Laos), the Pacific (Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands) and in the Horn of Africa (Djibouti), the paper wrote.

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