As the primary driver of its economy, the local content regime for the oil and gas sector in Angola is heavily dependent on a robust and efficient financial sector.
Exploration and production (E&P) of the country’s oil and gas resources have set the stage for a strong economic outlook for Angola, with the country’s GDP projected to grow 5% between 2023 and 2026.
As such, domestic financiers and insurers have called for increased synergy between the finance sector and energy industry in Angola, working to facilitate the monetization of the country’s hydrocarbon reserves while promoting economic diversification and socioeconomic development.
Participating primarily to support salary amounts and work accident premiums, Angolan banks and insurance companies play a secondary role in the country’s domestic oil and gas industry. However, high oil prices and a strengthened kwanza – Angola’s national currency – are poised to serve as stabilizing factors within the country’s economy and are expected to result in greater sector participation from domestic institutions, insurers, and business leaders.
Angola’s leading private sector bank is the Banco Angolano de Investimentos (BAI), which controls an estimated 20% of the country’s market shares. The BAI serves state-owned enterprises and corporations while playing an important role in financing Angola’s strategic oil industry. In June 2022 – amidst an economic resurgence as a result of strong oil prices – the BAI achieved a listing on the country’s BODIVA stock exchange. This milestone showcases the success of President João Lourenço’s economic reforms while marking a turning point in the modernization of Angola’s economy.
The National Bank of Angola (BNA) acts as the country’s central bank, playing an instrumental role in the establishment of a transparent and reassuring legal framework to invite the participation of local investors while protecting financial players and attracting foreign direct investment into the country’s oil sector. Inadequate financial strength coupled with the high cost of oil and gas investments, however, have led to local banks implementing connectivity strategies between local companies and international financial institutions.
Under Angola’s October 2020 Local Content Law, international oil companies are required to contract local service companies to participate in the country’s oil and gas sector. Recent reforms imposed by the BNA stipulate that Angolan banks are required to attain a minimum share capital of $17.3 million in all joint ventures in the country, while additional monetary and foreign exchange reforms oblige local banking institutions to establish a minimum of 10% in reserves of net profits for each year.
In January 2022, Angola’s national concessionaire and regulatory body in charge of activities in the oil and gas industry, the National Oil, Gas, and Biofuels Agency, presented a list of five exclusive services for local insurance companies to participate in the oil industry. The services include insurance for oil companies, insurance mediation, property insurance services, motor insurance, and life insurance.
Meanwhile, to ensure the adequate insurance of E&P activities in the country, the body responsible for regulating and supervising insurance, reinsurance, and insurance mediation activities, the Angolan Agency for Insurance Regulation and Supervision (ARSEG), has established an insurance pool consisting of 11 local insurers to cover risks in the hydrocarbon sector. Under the supervision of Angola’s Ministry of Finance, ARSEG aims to ensure local content participation by enabling local insurers to develop their technical capacities.
As Angola’s oil and gas sector expands due to a recent E&P drive by government and private sector players, Angolan financial institutions are playing an increasingly important role in financing the new era of energy developments.
