Banking

PORT LIOUS (Capital Markets in Africa) – SBM Holdings Ltd., Mauritius’s second-biggest financial group, began an audit of loans to foreign clients by its banking unit after uncovering a suspected fraud. The Port Louis-based company on Aug. 13 reported a 591 million-rupee ($17 million) loss in the three months through June, compared with a 728.5 million-rupee profit a year ago, after booking a once-off credit loss of 932 million rupees. Its shares have dropped 4.6 percent since….

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Absa Group Ltd.’s corporate and investment banking unit is targeting new African markets in a bid to boost earnings and deliver on Chief Executive Officer Maria Ramos’ mission to reboot the lender. Following a split from its former parent Barclays Plc, Absa has rebranded its operations in South Africa, reshuffled management and refreshed its strategy with the ambition of doubling its market share in Africa and regaining lost ground at home….

WINDHOEK (Capital Markets in Africa) – Namibia’s central bank wants the economy to rebound from its first contraction in 14 years but has asked citizens to go easy when it comes to taking on new debt. “If the economy starts to pick up, we wouldn’t want to see consumer spending pick up,” Governor Ipumbu Shiimi told reporters Wednesday in the capital, Windhoek. “The message to Namibians — only borrow when you need to borrow.” The central bank…

LAGOS (Capitla Markets in Africa) – Emerging-market central banks are boosting investors’ confidence in their ability to withstand shocks by pursuing orthodox economic policies and ignoring political pressures. As the economic crisis in Turkey this week threatened to roil markets in developing nations, policy makers from Jakarta to Buenos Aires reacted with a steady hand. Their response — raising interest rates, selling reserves or just providing reassurance that they’re paying attention — stands in stark…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – A jump in South Africa’s interest-rate bets may be little more than a reflection of the turmoil in Turkey. Forward-rate agreements, used to speculate on interest rates, increased on Monday after the rand sagged — at one point dropping the most since the 2008 financial crisis — as Turkey’s crisis sapped demand for emerging-market assets. But the South African Reserve Bank has ignored bouts of rand weakness in the past,…