Banking

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) — South African bonds soared, with the yield on the most-traded government securities falling by the most in 19 years, after the country’s central bank said it will start buying debt in the secondary market in an unprecedented intervention to boost liquidity. The move came as government yields reached record highs even after the South African Reserve Bank cut its policy rate last week by the most in a decade…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) — A South African labor union representing 73,000 banking employees said it hasn’t been informed on how a national lockdown will affect workers providing essential services. “The absence of such information is of serious concern because we need to give our members exact details on what the impact will be of the working arrangements on staff and how the selection of key employees to keep finance services afloat during this…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa): South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has reappointed Kuben Naidoo as deputy governor of the central bank, ensuring continuity at the institution’s top management level for least another four years. Naidoo will serve a further five years after his first term expires March 31, the central bank said in an emailed statement Wednesday. His reappointment follows that of Governor Lesetja Kganyago in July when Ramaphosa also named Fundi Tshazibana and Rashad…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa): The Federal Reserve established temporary dollar liquidity-swap lines with nine additional central banks, expanding the rapid roll-out of financial-crisis-era programs to combat the economic meltdown from the coronavirus pandemic. The new facilities total $60 billion for central banks in Australia, Brazil, South Korea, Mexico, Singapore, and Sweden, and $30 billion each for Denmark, Norway, and New Zealand. The swap lines will be in place for at least six months. The…

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – The coronavirus outbreak will hurt Kenyan business revenues if it lasts longer than 90 days as employees stay away from work and companies halt operations, according to Standard Chartered Bank Kenya Ltd. “We are starting to engage with clients to see what is the impact,” Chief Executive Officer Kariuki Ngari said. “We believe it will get worse before it gets better. We are hopeful like everybody else that it will not…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria’s central bank will bolster its support to manufacturing and other key sectors of the economy by 1 trillion naira ($2.7 billion) to counter the fallout of the coronavirus outbreak. The bank will provide a 100-billion naira loan to health authorities as Africa’s most populous nation tries to contain the spread of the new virus, it said in a statement on Wednesday. The central bank will increase efforts “in…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) A sustained period of low oil prices will weaken dollar liquidity and elevate asset risks for Nigerian lenders as their “balance sheets are partially dollarized,” Moody’s Investors Service said. “Foreign-funding contributes about 25% of total funding and low oil prices translate to lower foreign currency receipts for the Nigerian government,” analysts including Peter Mushangwe said in a note to clients on Thursday. Banks will come under pressure from a drop in foreign…