The license also authorizes the bank to open branches in Benin, Borkina Faso, Niger, Mali, Togo, and Cote D’Voir.

The bank which is expected to launch its services in the African State in the first half of 2009, will target the Lebanese diaspora.

Credit Libanais, which has branches in Canada, Bahrain and Cyprus, announced plans to expand to Senegal and the Ivory Coast in June 2008.