We are pleased to announce the evolution of our Personal Financial Services (PFS) division into a more focused Consumer Banking model. This strategic shift allows us to tailor products and services more effectively for customers, streamline operations and leverage new technologies. By placing greater emphasis on Cards and Open Banking, we are enhancing convenience, flexibility and innovation, ensuring our clients have the modern banking solutions that align with their expectations.
In addition, Guillaume Passebecq has been appointed as Head of Consumer, Private Banking and Wealth Management. Under his leadership, we will continue to strengthen our key areas – Business Banking, Retail, Premium Banking, Private Banking and Wealth Management -, while delivering seamless, personalised solutions that empower our customers to achieve their financial goals.
Key initiatives for Consumer Banking include a segmentation review to broaden our target market, enhancing service delivery, optimising branches and fostering closer collaboration with Private Banking. We are also advancing our Open Banking strategy, while our POP payment application is under review to introduce new client-centric features by 2025.
Private Banking exceeded expectations over the course of the year, driven by strong net interest income and custody fee growth. Its acceleration plan, supported by team expansion, continues to yield positive results. Meanwhile, assets under custody increased through rising trading activity and the onboarding of individual and institutional new clients, with volumes in diversified instruments both locally and internationally.
Mauritius has consistently attracted global attention as an emerging financial hub and a prime destination for foreign investment. The nation’s economic performance in 2024 showcased remarkable resilience amidst global uncertainties, setting the stage for a positive outlook in 2025. The Mauritian economy has rebounded strongly, with an estimated real growth of 5.2% in 2024. This growth is expected to continue into 2025, driven primarily by the tourism sector, fuelled by high demand for leisure travel and enhanced flight connectivity. Furthermore, the construction and financial services sectors are poised to play key roles in sustaining economic expansion in 2025.
Bank One plays a significant role in supporting and accompanying the local corporates throughout their journey, offering tailor-made solutions to meet their requirements. Our aim is to continue building stronger and more meaningful partnerships, delivering better service right to the doorstep of our clients. It also attends to the needs of diverse customer segments in various sectors, doing business within and into Africa, and ventures beyond through specialised finance solutions including structured trade, project financing and real estate financing under GFA-VEFA.
Our continued focus on digital transformation remains central to enhancing our ability to serve clients in their day-to-day trade and transactional activities. We provide innovative digital payment solutions that allow our clients to manage their finances conveniently, on-the-go, through multiple channels and platforms, ensuring seamless banking transactions.
The Bank maintained its external credit rating status of BB- stable outlook by Fitch Ratings, putting Bank One amongst the Top 15 Commercial Banks in sub-Saharan Africa in terms of credit rating. This reinforced confidence on the Bank being a sound institution in attracting deposits from various jurisdictions. However, we have witnessed some challenges on the interest income side following the major central banks key interest rate cutting spree in 2024. This has impacted the ability for the Bank to place at decent rates.
The Bank continued on its SSA strategy in structuring and executing syndicated transactions. The strong relationship with central banks across the region was maintained with several interactions with regards to funding possibilities. The year 2024 has seen a decline in Bank One’s Asset book, mainly due to the change in the economic landscape within the SSA region, whereby FIs have got access to cheaper funding through DFIs, hence resulting in a decrease in business opportunities. Bank One continues to focus on the syndication business avenue, looking to collaborate with key MLAs for any potential business opportunities within the SSA region.
The IBD team has shifted its focus from being a product centric to customer centricity thereby servicing the customer end-to-end with bespoke financing solutions. The objective is to have a long lasting business relationship with existing partners while focusing on new-to-bank prospects.
The trade finance strategy is gathering momentum, with positive growth expected in the years to come. Synergies with the different group entities in the SSA region further strengthen Bank One’s offerings, positioning the Bank as a strong trusted partner.
Private Banking and Wealth Management & Securities services (PBWM) clientele includes High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI), external Asset Managers, financial institutions, Collective Investment Scheme (CIS) and pension funds. To enhance its offering and customer experience, further investments have been made to improve the custody platform.
PBWM continues to grow both its personal and institutional customer base and is positive about the opportunities to grow its business alongside its shareholders in sub-Saharan Africa.
During the year, PBWM was recognised as the “Best Private Banking in Mauritius” by Global Finance Magazine.
The current year of assessment witnessed a well-saddled tourism sector in Mauritius, reaching the pre-covid tourist arrivals level. Despite this, the shortage in foreign currency remains persistent, as imports remain on the higher side and the tourism sector could not provide much foreign influx in the market to alleviate the shortage due to prior commitments such as bonds issuances. The central bank interventions brought some relief to the market, with an injection of USD 370m throughout the second half of the year. The local currency ended the year at the 47.00 level mark against the US dollar in December, depreciating by 6.40% on a year-on-year basis.
The index MERI2 is based on the currency distribution of merchandise trade and tourism earnings showed a massive depreciation in December 2024 compared to January the same year.
On the interest rate front, the Central Bank slashed its key repo rate by 50 basis points to 4%, to align with the global macroeconomic environment. The Central Bank also continued to manage the rupee excess liquidity situation through the conduct of its open market operations and longer-term operations were performed with a view to keeping the level of structural excess liquidity in check.
Pursuing our aspiration of “Becoming Africa’s preferred gateway”, the treasury department forged new relationships in the region and we are pre-empting some expanded tractions in the foreseeable future. The Treasury team has been able to make significant contribution to the Bank’s overall success through non-funded and interest income, making it a cornerstone of the financial health and strategic vision of the Bank.
In 2024, Bank One Limited continued its digital transformation journey, achieving significant milestones that enhanced both customer experience and operational efficiency. Key accomplishments included the introduction of workflow capabilities for our SME Banking segment and the digitalisation of our human resources department, streamlining processes and improving service delivery. We achieved 100% compliance with the Cyber & Technology Risk Management guidelines from the Bank of Mauritius, ensuring the highest standards of data protection. The migration to Office 365 modernised our work environment, fostering greater collaboration and productivity. Continuous enhancements to our Internet Banking and Mobile Banking offerings further refined the user experience. Moreover, we laid the foundation for reviewing internal processes to enhance customer experience, improve efficiencies and reinforce controls. Our unwavering commitment to quality of service and continuous improvement drove these advancements, resulting in increased adoption and satisfaction across all digital channels.
The Management Discussions and Analysis report may contain various forward-looking statements with respect to Bank One’s financial position, business strategy, plans and management objectives. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to future events and circumstances including, but not limited to, domestic market, global economic and business conditions, market risks such as changes in interest and exchange rates, policies and actions of governmental and regulatory authorities. We caution readers of this report not to place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements, as these factors may cause future results to differ materially from the plans, goals, expectations or interest expressed in the forward-looking statements. Bank One Limited does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that may be made from time to time by the organisation or on its behalf.
Effective risk management is essential in delivering consistent and sustainable performance for all of the Bank’s stakeholders and is a central part of its financial and operational management. The Bank adds value by taking and managing appropriate levels of risk, which in turn generates returns for shareholders.
The Bank leverages the three lines of defence model (as pictured below) to build and maintain a strong risk culture, where resilience is a priority for the effective management of risk. Focus is placed on multiple drivers to strengthen the risk culture.
Business lines
First line of defence consists of the management of business lines. It is the responsibility of first line management to identify and manage risks. This includes, at an operational level, the daily effective management of risks in accordance with agreed risk policies, appetite and controls.
Risk Management & Compliance
Second line of defence functions provide independent oversight and assurance and support management in ensuring their specific risks are effectively managed as close to the source as possible.
Internal Audit
Third line of defence provides independent and objective assurance to the Board and Senior Management on the effectiveness of the first and second lines of defence.
Environmental action:
Conservation day at the Ferney Valley
Community:
Supporting the Père Henri Souchon School
Community:
Supporting the Jean BlaiseLearning Centre of Pointe Aux Sables
Disability Inclusion:
Pro Workshop Collaboration With Actogether
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