Swiss-headquartered global lender, UBS, on Monday said the JSE, Africa’s biggest bourse, had permitted it to issue shares valued at R3 billion ($279.4m).

The issuance, it said, would allow the lender to increase its product presence in South Africa in what has been described as the first of its programmes in the country.

Shares issued under this program will be listed on the JSE’s main board.

UBS is the largest bank in Switzerland, with operations in over 50 countries. It had almost 63,500 workers internationally as at 2012.

Like many other global banks, UBS, could be bracing itself for the economic boom that many say Africa would experience in the next decade.

The lender could also be planning to use its presence on the JSE as a springboard to the broader African continent.

Africa’s economic boom means a growing middle class and a flourishing upper class and this is surely the market the bank wants to tap.