Banking

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has reappointed Lesetja Kganyago as governor of the Reserve Bank and named two deputies from his existing team, ending uncertainty about the top management at one of the nation’s key economic institutions. Kganyago will serve another five years after his first term ends in November, the Ministry of Finance said in an emailed statement Wednesday. Ramaphosa also appointed Monetary Policy Committee members Fundi Tshazibana, who served as an adviser…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Old Mutual Ltd. said accusations by former Chief Executive Officer Peter Moyo that Chairman Trevor Manuel bullied other board members of the South African life insurer into firing him are false. The 174-year-old insurer dismissed Moyo because of corporate-governance concerns related to his role at NMT Capital, an investment firm he co-founded and in which Old Mutual owns 20%, the company said in papers filed in the Johannesburg High Court on Tuesday. Moyo’s…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – They live in rows of tidy townhouses, setting out early every weekday for a short walk to Deutsche Bank AG’s lush corporate campus. For the closest, it’s just across the street. For the past several years, Deutsche Bank has been persuading harried Wall Streeters to move to Jacksonville, Florida, where it was building out operations to handle more of the firm’s business at a lower cost. Veterans who accepted the posts…

CAIRO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Egypt’s biggest investment banks, including EFG Hermes Holding Co. and CI Capital Holding, are vying to manage the sale of a stake in state-owned United Bank, a deal that may augur a new wave of private investment in the North African nation after years of upheaval. Pharos Holding and HC Securities & Investment are also among “several” investment banks that have bid for the role, according to Egyptian central bank…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – It took Discovery Ltd. 1.5 million man-hours over four years to build a bank. When the startup opens to the public Monday it will challenge South African lenders with histories going back to 1838, and they’re ready for battle. The insurer prides itself on its Vitality offering, a rewards program that gives its 1.9 million customers discounts for exercising or buying healthy food; a concept also being applied to…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – After years of ignoring consumers, Nigerian lenders are making an unprecedented push into retail banking. Increased technology use and urbanization are opening up a market of almost 200 million people where less than half of adults are banked. Drawn by the vast potential of an untapped market, banks also have little choice as they face competition from wireless carriers with over 160 million users, and the central bank demands they lend…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – West African finance ministers and central bank governors agreed on technical issues surrounding the creation of a single currency for the Economic Community of West African States next year. “At a ministerial level, we’ve established a roadmap” for the establishment of a new currency, Ivory Coast Finance Minister Adama Kone told reporters Tuesday after the meeting in Abidjan. The 15-member regional organization has set a target to have a…