African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has announced the launch of a new customer due diligence repository to help reduce costs for African financial institutions (FIs).

Dubbed the African Customer Due Diligence Repository (ACDIRP), it will provide African banks, other FIs and corporates with a centralised source of customer due diligence in accordance with international best practices, and will be available on subscription.

At the launch of the initiative at last week’s Customer Due Diligence and Corporate Governance Forum in Dakar, Senegal, the president of Afreximbank, Jean-Louis Ekra, told stakeholders in the African financial sector that ACDIRP will operate online for the purposes of sharing knowledge and experience in customer due diligence and corporate governance.

“ACDIRP will make it easier for African FIs to comply with best practices,” he told delegates, adding that increasing costs confronting African FIs due to continuously evolving compliance regulations has hurried the need to find Africa-specific solutions to challenges facing the financial sector.