NEW ECURRENCY COMES TO THE MARKET

Orange, a key brand of France Telecom, has teamed BNP Paribas to launch its new service Orange Money in Ivory Coast through bank's subsidiary BICICI. With Orange Money, customers will get an access to an entire range of services making it possible to carry out day-to-day banking operations and transactions in total security. Both companies are sure that their collaboration and joint projects will help to accelerate the level of access to banking services in the Ivory Coast.

'By launching Orange Money today in the Ivory Coast, we are bringing several months of work to a close with a service that will make life easier for our customers by giving them the possibility to easily carry out bank transactions using their mobile, in total simplicity and total security. We are delighted that Orange Money has been launched for the first time in the Ivory Coast. This event marks the start of the service's deployment in other Orange countries over the coming months,' said Marc Rennard, Orange's International Executive Director for the Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific Region.

'BNP Paribas is very proud to have been able to combine its know-how and image with those of Orange to design and launch an innovative means for transferring money in the Ivory Coast. Through the launch of this service in the Ivory Coast, then in other countries, BNP Paribas is committed to supporting the gradual improvement of access to banking services for many low-income households that do not have access to traditional banking services today, in this way playing an active role in the economic development of the countries concerned,' added For Amadou Kane, Head of the Africa Region for BNP Paribas.