Licensed banks and lenders in Sub-Saharan Africa

For debt financing (investment loans, working capital, leasing), these are the institutions licensed to lend in each country. Every list comes from the regulator's official register (BCEAO, COBAC, central banks), with its link and date.

licensed institutions: 2636; licensed institutions
countries covered: 29; countries covered
banks and development finance institutions: 520; banks and development finance institutions

Each country, from its regulator's official register

Country	Banks	Institutions	Register
Benin	14	14	partial register
Burkina Faso	16	18	partial register
Burundi	15	95
Cameroon	19	19	partial register
Cape Verde	8	8	partial register
Comoros	4	7	partial register
Congo-Brazzaville	9	31
Côte d'Ivoire	29	30	partial register
Djibouti	14	18
DRC	18	132
Ethiopia	32	88
Gambia	11	86
Ghana	0	37	partial register · no bank in the published register
Guinea	20	20	partial register
Guinea-Bissau	6	6	partial register
Kenya	38	305
Liberia	10	10	partial register
Mali	14	15	partial register
Mauritius	18	22
Niger	14	15	partial register
Nigeria	44	996
Rwanda	11	420
Sao Tomé-et-Principe	5	7
Senegal	29	30	partial register
Seychelles	8	10
Sierra Leone	32	101
Tanzania	39	43	partial register
Togo	14	14	partial register
Uganda	29	39

Banks and development institutions make up 20% of licensed institutions

Commercial banks485
Development finance institutions19
Merchant banks5
Credit institutions11
Finance companies152
Microfinance banks810
Microfinance institutions233
Savings and loans, credit cooperatives292
Other licensed lenders (mortgage, digital credit…)629

Registers being collected

These countries will be added once their official register has been collected: Angola, Botswana, Central African Republic, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Gabon, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

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