ZENITH Bank Plc has opened a subsidiary in Paris, France, in its bid to expand its presence across major global financial centres.

The bank said it would expand its global footprint into Francophone countries, starting with Cameroon and Ivory Coast.

The official unveiling of the branch took place at 21 Rue de la Paix, Paris, France, on Thursday, November 28, and was performed by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun.

“I feel that one of the dividends of building trust for Nigerian institutions around the world is this event today, the opening of Zenith Bank in Paris.

“The presence of Zenith here can only help to engender trust in the French business community,” Edun said.

According to the bank, the opening of the Paris branch, a third-country branch of Zenith Bank (UK) Limited, represents a key milestone in the bank’s global growth strategy and underscores its commitment to serving clients in the European region.

“The opening of this Paris branch is part of the broad strategy of the bank to extend its footprints across the major global financial centres and our efforts at following our customers’ businesses,” the group managing director/chief executive officer of Zenith Bank, Adaora Umeoji, said.

She maintained that the Paris branch underpinned the bank’s need to serve its customers and bolster trade and finance relationships between its customers in France and other countries.

“Zenith Bank’s expansion into France is a very strategic move as Nigeria accounts for 20 per cent of France’s trade with Sub-saharan Africa, according to the Franco-Nigeria Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

“Having successfully dominated large parts of Anglophone Africa, we will leverage Zenith Bank Paris operations to lead the Francophone market starting from Ivory Coast and Cameroon where we will be establishing subsidiaries very soon,” she said.

Umeoji added that the Paris branch would facilitate business and trade flows between the African region and France, which is a major business partner to several African countries.

On his part, the director general of the Treasury in France, Bertrand Dumont, remarked, “This is a crucial asset when it comes to doing business between our two countries, or when it comes to doing business between our two continents.

“So, I would like to wish you the best in this endeavour, in this creation, and I hope that in the coming months or the coming year, you will invite me again for the integration of larger buildings as a sign of the success that you would have encountered.”

Zenith Bank, which commenced operations in July 1990 as a commercial bank, currently has an international presence in Ghana, Sierra Leone, South Africa, the United Kingdom, China, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).