CASE STUDIES FROM AFRICA

Government Policies that Made a Difference
The Nigerian banking sector has witnessed distinct cycles and reforms, with the most recent
carried out after 2005 in a phase of bank consolidation. As elsewhere, the industry in Nigeria is
highly regulated due to its economic importance. The recent banking reforms have stabilised
the banking system and encouraged both the recovery of previous bad loans and fresh capital
accumulation.
Other than the creation of an appropriate regulatory framework, there is no evident
government policy strategy to support financial or banking services exports; export
development programmes usually target goods. One exception to this is the Financial System
Strategy (FSS 2020). Although the main focus of this strategy is domestic financial services, it
also aims to enhance integration with external financial markets. However, it is unclear if the
FSS has yielded any concrete measures to date: The case study did not find any banking or
other financial services exports receiving specific attention from relevant agencies.
The case study therefore concludes that Nigerian banks’ international expansion appears to
have been carried out at their own initiative and without federal government support or
facilitation. It suggests that Nigerian banks’ success at home (induced by the bank consolidation
policy and conducive regulatory environment) was the main factor enabling them to increase
the size of their balance sheets and engage in global competition.
Constraints on Future Growth
Despite references to services sector development and trade in recent development plans, and
the privatisation and economic deregulation undertaken from 1986, a holistic services
development policy is lacking in Nigeria, and the legal framework for individual services
markets is sometimes inconsistent. Development and implementation of a directed, economywide
policy framework would enable the services sector, particularly banking services, to
further stimulate economic growth.
Case Study 3: BPO and ICT Services: Senegal
The information and communications technology (ICT) sector is a young one in Senegal, dating
back only to the late 1990s. It is estimated that trade in ICT sector-related services was worth
US$ 372 million in 2010, approximately 43% of the country’s total services exports. ICT-related
trade grew 6% annually from 2005 to 2010, constituting a large and growing export market for
Senegal. These exports consisted primarily of computer and information services (growth
averaging 50% per year), communication services, and ‘other business services’ (various traderelated
and business support services).
BPO and ICT offshoring service exports have been primarily through Mode 1: Senegalese firms
electronically export these services to other countries cross-border. One Senegalese firm has also
begun to invest in these activities abroad (Mode 3), opening subsidiaries in five other West
African countries. Senegalese ICT experts also likely travel regionally to supply their expertise
to both the parent company and its subsidiaries, as well as through consulting work (Mode 4),
but this has been difficult to document.
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