Banking

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Absa Group Ltd. is restructuring its South African retail and business banking unit within months of reducing the division’s management team and rolling out a new strategy. Finance labor union Sasbo was notified to begin consulting staff last week on the potential impact of the move, union representative Philip Landman said by phone Wednesday. About 15 retail-banking executives exited their positions at the Johannesburg-based lender in June, after a similar…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Standard Bank Group Ltd., which owned a minority stake in Moscow-based Troika Dialog from 2009 to 2012, said there’s no reason to believe any of its businesses were linked to alleged money laundering involving the Russian lender. None of the entities that the Johannesburg-based company was involved in at the time have been mentioned in reports about the scandal, Alan Bedford-Shaw, the head of corporate development, said on a…

JOHANNESBURG(Capital Markets in Africa): Standard Bank Group Ltd. said its London-based venture with Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. might need a $200 million capital injection over the next 12 to 18 months, of which its share will be $80 million. ICBC Standard Bank’s business plan indicates the need for the cash based on growth in risk-weighted assets, Johannesburg-based Standard Bank said in a statement on Thursday. Beijing-based ICBC owns 60 percent of the venture, which specializes in…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Absa Group Ltd. has overhauled the executive management of its corporate and investment banking unit as part of an ongoing group-wide revamp to draw more revenue from operations in Africa. The team of eight, which includes former joint-chief executive officers of the division, Mike Harvey and Temi Ofong, now have a mandate to drive business across the entire African continent, Absa CIB CEO Charles Russon said in an interview in Johannesburg. The…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s central bank wants to see sustainably lower inflation to ensure cheaper borrowing costs in the economy, Governor Lesetja Kganyago said. “We have indicated that a consistently lower rate in the near term, at the midpoint of our target band — 4.5 percent — would lower long-term interest rates and be more supportive of balance in the economy,” Kganyago said Wednesday in a speech in Stellenbosch, near Cape Town. The…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa): The Bank of England doesn’t need to rush to raise interest rates until the uncertainty of Brexit lifts, according to policy maker Michael Saunders. In a speech in London Wednesday, Saunders, considered one of the most hawkish members of the Monetary Policy Committee, said that tame inflation and a slowdown in growth meant officials could adopt a wait-and-see approach as Brexit plays out. BOE officials voted unanimously last month to hold…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s ruling party has taken a decision to nationalize the central bank and it will be implemented, President Cyril Ramaphosa said. “We have got to go through processes,” Ramaphosa told parliament in Cape Town on Thursday. “There is no hidden agenda.” Ramaphosa’s comments come a day after he was scheduled to meet with Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago in Cape Town. Kganyago on Wednesday emphasized the importance of central bank independence in…