In an Angola joint venture Standard Chartered Bank has partnered with ENSA, Angola’s state-owned insurance company, to open a corporate bank .

Foreign companies investing in Angola must have local partners, according to the country’s regulations.

As an international bank, Standard Chartered hopes to attract clients from Europe and Asia that are moving to Angola, BusinessDayLive reports.  The joint venture is expected to increase competition for corporate clients in sub-Saharan Africa’s second-largest oil-producing country.

Although Portuguese bank Caixa Geral has a presence in Angola, Standard Chartered is the first major international bank to operate in the country, according to the report. Standard Chartered Bank Angola will offer foreign exchange, cash management, corporate finance and export finance.

ENSA will own 40 percent of Standard Chartered Bank Angola and Standard Chartered will own a 60 percent majority.

ENSA and Standard Chartered invested about $50 million to start the bank, said Miguel Miguel, an Angolan national and CEO of Standard Chartered Bank Angola.

The focus for Standard Chartered Bank Angola will be on corporate banking, Miguel said. The bank will operate in one branch.

ENSA has branches in almost all of Angola’s 18 provinces. “When we decide to expand our branches … we can use the network that ENSA has,” Miguel said.

Retail banking is also possibility in the future. “At this point we are going to do wholesale banking,” Miguel said.

There are about 23 banks in Angola. These include Standard Bank Angola, a subsidiary of Standard Bank Group, Africa’s largest bank by assets, and a competitor of Standard Chartered, BusinessDayLive reports. Standard Bank Angola offers retail, business and corporate banking.

Angola was China’s largest trading partner in Africa in 2012, with trade of more than $35 billion, according to the report.

Standard Chartered will also tap opportunities in agriculture, Miguel said. Angola’s government is reducing its reliance on oil and diversifying its economy. The contribution of oil revenue to Angola’s gross domestic product fell from 56 percent in 2002 to 46 percent in 2012, and is expected to continue falling, according to a study by Eaglestone, a Lisbon-based investment bank, BusinessDayLive reports.