Banque commerciale du Congo

Belgian Congo Bank in Leopoldville, circa 1942

The Bank traces its origins to 1909 when it was founded as Banque du Congo Belge. BCDC is the second largest bank in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as measured by balance sheet and shareholders equity.

1909: The birth of Banque du Congo Belge. As a public limited company, it conducted most of its activities in Central Africa.

1911: BCB obtains for the Belgian Congo the privilege of emission which it will preserve for more than 40 years.

1960: Congo becomes a sovereign state. The Banque du Congo Belge contributes its European activities to the Banque Belgo- Congolaise April 14th in Brussels. In 1965 it becomes known as Belgolaise, a shareholder alongside the Congolese state and private partners of the Congolese bank known at the time as Banque Commerciale Du Congo. For a few years it would be called Banque Commerciale Zaïroise.

1997: The collapse of the country's economy and the long civil war forced the bank to reduce its size to a level compatible to its activities.

2004: Taking advantage of the improved socio-political climate and the subsequent economic upturn, BCDC redeployed its network throughout the country and adapted its sales organization to meet new needs of its clients. BCDC became a bank of reference in the DRC, active throughout the country.

2009: The Democratic Republic of Congo celebrates 50 years of its independence and BCDC became a centenary bank. In this context it stayed the leading financial player with multiple assets.

2016: In a tough economic context, BCDC followed a cycle of its activities opposite to that experienced by the Congolese economy. By year end 2016 it earned $ 11 million US dollars before tax making it the highest result made the last 15 years.

On 9 September 2019, Equity Bank Group, a Kenyan-based banking group, announced that it had acquired a controlling stake in BCDC.[1]

In December 2020, Equity Bank Group, having received regulatory approval from the DR Congolese regulators, began the process of merging BCDC with Equity Bank Congo (EBC), to form Equity Banque Commerciale du Congo (Equity BCDC), where the group maintains 77.5 percent shareholding.[2]

BCDC operates twenty three branches in seventeen cities in the DRC.[3] Including 10 in Kinshasa, 4 in the former Katanga Province, and one in each of the following cities : Aru, Beni, Boma, Bukavu, Bunia, Butembo, Durba, Goma, Kananga, Kimpese, Kisangani, Lukala, Matadi, Mbuji-Mayi and Isiro. The Kananga agency, in Kasai Central, is located on Boulevard Lumumba.[4]

• Official site
• Documents and clippings about Banque commerciale du Congo in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW