Four new banks are expected to start operating in Angola before the close of the year, Macauhub quote a local newspaper Expansão reporting.

Banco Pungo Andongo (BPAN), Banco Prestígio, the Standard Chartered Bank and Banco de Poupança e Promoção Habitacional (BPPH) were mentioned as the new banks setting shop in Africa’s second biggest oil producer.

The newspaper cited a recent statement from the National Bank of Angola, according to which by the end of this year or the beginning of 2014 there will be four more banks in Angola.

Amílcar Silva, president of the Angolan Bank Association, told the newspaper that licenses had been issued to the Standard Chartered Bank and BPPH, and that the latter would replace Banco de Promoção para o Desenvolvimento.

Expansão said that BPAN is controlled by Manuel Paixão Júnior, who is currently the chairman of the board of Banco de Poupança e Crédito (BPC), and BPPH is part of state oil and gas group Sociedade Nacional de Combustíveis de Angola (Sonangol).

The new banks will have to operate based on the latest rules of the central bank on minimum starting capital for new banks, which were approved in May of this year by the Economic Commission of the Council of Ministers, which set a minimum figure of 2.5 billion kwanzas (US$19 million), compared to 600 million kwanzas previously.