Banking

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Absa Group Ltd.’s push to reclaim market share lost while under the control of Barclays Plc is beginning to pay off at the South African lender’s main retail-banking business. First-half net income climbed 5.4% to 7.64 billion rand ($500 million) as Absa provided more personal loans and credit cards, while boosting the revenue it generates from fees and commissions, the Johannesburg-based company said in a statement Tuesday. The improvement at its…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa needs to speed up reforms to save beleaguered state-owned power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. and attract investors back to the country, according to the chief executive officer of Nedbank Group Ltd. “For us, energy policy and Eskom remain the elephant in the room in the South African economy,” Mike Brown said in a phone interview after the lender posted a slight rise in first-half net income. “If the previous…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s biggest financial union is threatening to disrupt the country’s banking industry by leading its 73,000 members on a strike next month, in what would be its largest industrial action in almost a century. The planned two-day walkout will target lenders that have consulted staff over job cuts in recent months and other institutions that employ members of the Sasbo union, according to General Secretary Joe Kokela. Sasbo wants banks…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – Investors have begun betting that the Bank of England will join the European Central Bank in cutting interest rates below zero. Traders bought more than 21,000 option contracts in the past month that will pay out if the BOE delves into negative territory by March 2021. The bets will succeed if the central bank buckles under the twin pressures of Brexit and a global economic slowdown and eases policy…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – Barclays Plc Chief Executive Officer Jes Staley said the bank cut 3,000 jobs in the second quarter as the firm sought to keep a tight grip on expenses and counter criticism over its ability to reach profitability targets. The London-based bank joined other European lenders who have been eliminating roles in recent months, including HSBC Holdings Plc and Societe Generale SA. Barclays Finance Director Tushar Morzaria told journalists on a call Thursday that the cuts were…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Union Bank of Nigeria Plc increased its pace of lending in the first half of this year to meet central bank’s minimum loan to deposit ratio ahead of September deadline. The lender, held by former Barclay‘s Bank Plc Chief Executive Officer Bob Diamond’s Atlas Mara Ltd., increased loan book by 8% to 563 billion naira as at June from 519.7 billion naira in December, raising loan to deposit ratio to 63%,…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – Lloyds Banking Group Plc shares sank as the lender took an extra charge for a last-minute rush of calls from British customers over missold insurance. The country’s biggest mortgage lender posted a 550 million-pound provision in the second quarter for customers who were missold payment protection insurance, as a long-running compensation program draws to a close in August. It’s the biggest provision the bank has taken since the fourth quarter…