Banking

PORT LOUIS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Mauritius’s biggest bank expects economic growth to accelerate next year, driven by railway, road and other infrastructure projects, its chief executive officer said. The Indian Ocean island nation’s economy will probably grow 4 percent in 2019, compared with 3.8 percent this year, MCB Group Ltd. CEO Pierre Guy Noel said in an interview Monday in Ebene, south of the capital, Port Louis. “We are expecting to benefit, in 2019, from the…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Moody’s has changed its outlook on the South African banking system to stable from negative, reflecting the expected resilience of the banks’ financial metrics and creditworthiness over the next 12-18 months, despite weakening operating conditions, Moody’s Investors Service said in a report today. Moody’s report, “Banking System Outlook – South Africa, Resilient financials amid a weakening economy drive our stable outlook” is available on www.moodys.com. Moody’s subscribers can access…

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenyan lawmakers’ move to postpone a value-added tax on fuel and their failure to repeal a cap on commercial lending rates weakens the government’s fiscal-policy credibility, Moody’s Investors Service said. While President Uhuru Kenyatta can still reject the proposed amendments to legislation, they could exacerbate Kenya’s “sizeable financing needs in light of the government’s recurring fiscal deficits and growing debt burden,” Moody’s Vice President Lucie Villa said in an emailed report Monday. The 16 percent…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The former head of the London unit of Union Bank of Nigeria Plc was arrested last year as part of a bribery probe, according to four people with knowledge of the case, solving a mystery hinted at by U.K. prosecutors this week. Maurice Phido was detained by police in May 2017, the people said, who asked not to be identified because his name isn’t public. Phido was released on bail after…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – You wouldn’t say South Africa was in the grips of a recession by looking at the retail-banking unit of FirstRand Ltd., the continent’s largest lender by market value. First National Bank, which accounts for more than half of FirstRand’s profit, is outshining its Johannesburg-based peers by adding customers and deposits, extending more credit to its top clients and boosting transactions through its mobile-phone banking app. A decline in credit losses as a…

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya’s biggest bank by market value said plans by lawmakers to restrict how much the government can borrow from commercial lenders are outdated and risk infringing on the independence of the central bank. Legislators in the East African nation have proposed the measure to avoid the state sector crowding out businesses and consumers from accessing credit. Lawmakers also want to compel banks to set aside 10 percent of their…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Unity Bank Plc sold 400 billion naira ($1.1 billion) of bad loans to clean up its balance sheet as it seeks to conclude talks for a cash injection aimed at stabilizing the Nigerian lender. The disposal to Frontier Capital Alternative Asset Ltd. of the toxic assets cut the ratio of non-performing loans to near zero from almost 50 percent and helped to shore up Unity Bank’s liquidity, Chief Financial Officer Ebenezer…