Includes special features of this country’s banking system and rules/laws that might impact U.S. business
Last Published: 7/24/2017

The DRC’s banking system is comprised of the BCC and 18 commercial banks as well as savings/credit cooperatives, microfinance institutions, financial transfer services, and one development bank, SOFIDE. A postal checking system and several credit cooperatives exist, but most of these institutions do not function well, if at all.  Citibank-DRC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Citigroup, is the only U.S. bank in the DRC.

The vast majority of commercial bank activity in the DRC is focused on short-term credit, which is offered to a restricted number of private enterprises, exchange market operations and export-import services.  Three-quarters of disbursed credit is short-term, less than one year. The political context, the weakness of the legal system, and the hostile business climate do not encourage banks to provide long-term loans, despite the dire need for longer-term investment to finance the renovation and rehabilitation of the DRC’s derelict industrial and agricultural sectors. Loans are generally denominated in foreign currencies, which further diminish what little confidence economic operators have in the national currency.  There are only limited possibilities for banks to finance major projects in Congolese Francs, given the comparison between the level of their own Congolese Franc holdings (on average $12 million per bank) and foreign currency deposits which account for on average 70.3 percent of their commitments.

Most DRC commercial banks do not require the payment of service fees to open bank accounts. Most banks require individuals and companies to have a minimum deposit of up to $100. Some banks, like Citibank and Standard Bank do not have commercial banking operations, working only with corporate and institutional clients.

Though the banking system is gradually expanding, particularly after the GDRC required civil servants to receive their salaries through direct deposit, most bank accounts are used only to receive pay checks and these are usually withdrawn in full shortly after being deposited.
 

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