Angola: Provision of Bank loans to Related Parties

Angolan Central Bank (BNA) Order 1/25, of 30 April 2025, established new rules on the granting of loans and provision of guarantees by banks to Related Parties (including Directors and members of Relevant Management Bodies).

The following main rules apply:

1. The provision of loans/guarantees to Related Parties must be made in similar terms to those provided to Non-Related Parties. This includes the criteria for examining loan applications, risk assessment, loan duration, repayment schedule, interest rate, commissions and fees, request for guarantees, etc;
   
   
2. Loans/provision of guarantees to Related Parties must be approved by no less than 2/3 of the Board of Directors and obtain a favorable opinion from the Fiscal Council. Members who may have conflicts of interest must be excluded from voting;
   
   
3. Banks must keep an updated list of Related Parties (including Directors and members of Relevant Management Bodies) and detailed information on the bank’s financial exposure to each Related Party. Details of all Related Party transactions must be provided to BNA on a quarterly basis;
   
   
4. Annual audits must be carried out on all Related Party transactions and the results thereof must be submitted to BNA upon request;
   
   
5. The total amount of (direct and indirect) credit exposure, including through the provision of guarantees, by a bank to Related Parties cannot exceed 15% of its Tier 1 capital, excluding participations in foreign subsidiaries/branches and other BNA licensed banks, subject to the following individual limits:
   • 1% per person and 5% per legal entity, in case of holders of “qualified participations” (as defined in the Financial Institutions Law), including “group entities”;
   • 1% for all other persons or legal entities (not holders of qualified participations);
     
     
     If the credit exposure exceeds the above limits, the bank must inform BNA immediately and implement a plan to correct the situation within a maximum of 6 months;
     
     
6. The bank must keep records of transactions with a Related Party for at least 10 years after the person/entity ceased to be a Related Party.

Any existing loans at the time of publication of this Order which are at odds with the above rules (including the exposure limits) may run until the end of their term, however the loan amount and duration cannot be increased/extended, and the loan cannot be renewed.

Order 1/25 is not applicable when the State is the Related Party.