NEW MARKET ENTRY IN THE FINANCIAL SERVICES SECTOR

The challenge

When an established West African Bank were contemplating whether or not to enter the UK and EU market, they asked us to undertake a range of market studies to help them understand the size and potential of the opportunity.

Our work

We undertook a lengthy programme of analysis in order to make our recommendations. This included:

• conducting in-depth market research on the prevailing market conditions to evaluate the true level of demand for their services

• assessing the opportunities and risks for different entry methods (such as a liaison office, a branch or a full subsidiary) alongside a review of their existing international representative offices

• advising on the compliance policies and processes required to operate in each market

• identifying key sectors to target, and potential partners to approach

• providing a full financial impact assessment highlighting the indicative costs at each stage of development, as well as projections as to what could be achieved.

• understanding the potential effects on their existing activities and possible regulatory issues in their home territory

Our Impact

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The comprehensive feasibility study gave the bank a clear picture of the opportunity open to them and mapped out the various routes it could take to penetrate the UK and EU market, as well as potential synergies that could be structured.

In particular, we identified over 4000 UK-based companies which had either an ultimate owner, or a majority shareholder, from the same West African region as our client who may be looking for an alternative banking supplier. These results exceeded our client’s expectations and enabled them to better understand how their client base could be developed.

This project is still in contract and is awaiting management decision on the next phase, based on our work.