From Trade Arabia

South Sudanese lender Liberty Commercial Bank plans to expand its retail business with the help of foreign investors and is looking for a partner in Dubai to tap rising trade with the Gulf, a senior executive said.

Launched last year with one branch and funded by South Sudanese and Kenyan investors, Liberty is one of the latest entrants to one of the most under-banked markets in the world.

Devastated by decades of civil war before it broke away from Sudan in 2011, South Sudan, with a population of nearly 12 million, has struggled to build up state institutions and laws since winning independence.

The lack of an efficient legal system has not deterred foreign banks from arriving, including Kenya Commercial Bank , Qatar National Bank and a bank funded by Dubai Islamic Bank.

South Sudan has a handful of local banks including Liberty, which were established in the run-up to or since independence. They have set up shop in the ramshackle capital Juba, urging people via billboards lining the dusty streets to deposit their money amid a sharp rise in crime in the city as the government struggles to assert control in a country awash with guns after the 1983-2005 civil war.

Liberty says it has already attracted $15 million in funding from investors. This week it held meetings with unnamed potential investors from Uganda about broadening its shareholder base as it wants to open 10 branches by 2018, Emmanuel Batali, head of strategic planning told Reuters in a recent interview.

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