ABANC - Angolan Banking Association

The financial system can be defined as the set of institutions, rules, tools and services that enables the formation and profitability of savings in the form of financial resources or assets to use in funding for investment and consumption. The financial system depends on the existence of surplus economic agents and deficit economic agents in the economy, that can spend or consume resources (consumption unit) or can sacrifice the satisfaction of needs by saving (saving unit), which will be channeled to the investment.

The national financial system is divided into five major "markets":

• Monetary market: segment which accounts for the operations to control the money supply and short-term interest rates, to ensure the liquidity of the economy. The liquidity of the market is regulated by open transactions by the monetary authorities, via placement, repurchase and redemption of short-term government bonds. The Banco Nacional de Angola (National Bank of Angola - BNA) operates on this market, implementing monetary policy.
• Credit Market: segment that meets the short and medium term credit needs. Several financial institutions operate in this market providing brokering services of short and medium-term resources to deficit agents that need resources for consumption or investment. The Banco Nacional de Angola is the institution responsible for checking, supervising and monitoring this market.
• Capital market: segment that aims to channel medium and long-term funds for deficit productive economic agents, through the purchase and sale of securities and titles between companies, investors and intermediaries. The Comissão de Mercado de Capitais (Capital Market Commission - CMC) is the institution responsible for the control, supervision and monitoring of this market.
• Currency exchange market: segment where the exchange of foreign currencies by Kwanzas is negotiated. The Banco Nacional de Angola is responsible for the management, supervision and control of foreign exchange operations and of exchange rate, acting through its Foreign Exchange Policy.
• Insurance market: segment that aims to manage risk on economic agents that seek economical protection against unpredictable events that have a negative impact on their interests, through a financial agreement, structured under the concept of mutualism and statistical laws of probability, which indemnifies the insured and their beneficiaries in case of the occurrence of certain events or losses. The Agência Angolana de Regulação e Supervisão de Seguros (Angolan Agency of Insurance Regulation and Supervision - ARSEG) is the authority responsible for the regulation, supervision and monitoring of this market.