Banking | - Part 75

Standard Bank Lifts Targets as Sees South African Economy Improving

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Standard Bank Group Ltd., Africa’s largest lender by assets, said it expects its return on equity to rise as South Africa’s economy improves. “The positive steps taken already by the ruling party subsequent to its leadership conference will improve business and consumer confidence,” the Johannesburg-based bank said in a statement on Thursday. The return on equity target range has been increased to as much as 20 percent from an earlier…

Tunisia Can’t Defend the Dinar, Central Bank Governor Says

Posted on by The Editorial Team

TUNIS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Tunisia can’t defend its currency “even if it wanted to,” and must instead focus on narrowing its trade deficit to revive the economy, according to central bank Governor Marouane El Abassi. El Abassi, in his first news conference since being appointed last month, said the central bank raised its benchmark interest rate by 75 basis points this week to curb inflation, which he said risked becoming “uncontrollable.” The dinar has weakened…

IMF Urges Nigeria to Keep Tight Monetary Policy, Curb Inflation

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Central Bank of Nigeria should maintain its tight monetary-policy stance and consider raising interest rates to help anchor price expectations, the International Monetary Fund said. Increasing the monetary policy rate from 14 percent to exceed price growth, which stood at 15.1 percent in January, “would more transparently reflect CBN intentions, help anchor inflation expectations, and signal forward-looking policy,” the Washington-based lender said in a report release Wednesday after an Article IV consultation. Governor Godwin…

Takeover Bid by Ghana’s UniBank in Doubt as Regulator Balks

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ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – UniBank Ghana Ltd. agreed to buy a controlling stake in Agricultural Development Bank Ltd. from a group of exiting investors in a deal that still needs to win support from the country’s central bank. The planned takeover comes as lenders in Ghana scurry to meet an end-of-the-year deadline to bolster their capital buffers. The new rules are part of a government effort to create stronger banks better able to…

Moody’s affirms ratings of Tanzanian banks; changes outlook to negative

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DAR ES SALAAM (Capital Markets in Africa) – Moody’s Investors Service has today affirmed the B1/ Not Prime long and short-term local-currency deposit ratings and the B2/ Not Prime long and short-term foreign-currency deposit ratings of NMB Bank PLC and CRDB Bank Plc. The outlook on the banks’ long-term deposit ratings was changed to negative, from stable. At the same time, Moody’s has affirmed NMB Bank PLC’s b1 baseline credit assessment (BCA), b1 adjusted BCA,…

Central Bank in Top African Bitcoin Market Warns of `Gamble’

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The central-bank governor of Nigeria, where bitcoin trading grew the most in Africa last year, said investing in the cryptocurrency is a “gamble” and hinted it may have to be regulated. “Cryptocurrency or bitcoin is like a gamble, and there is a need for everybody to be very careful,” Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Godwin Emefiele said in an interview on Wednesday at his office in the capital, Abuja. “We cannot as a…

State Bank of Mauritius (SBM) – Fusion Capital Analysis

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Fusion Capital has carried a detailed analysis of the State Bank of Mauritius (SBM) as we believe this is critical to both depositors and public at large. Following is a summary of the analysis. SBM Holdings ‘SBM’ was founded in 1973 by the Government of Mauritius and was listed in the Stock Exchange of Mauritius ‘SEM’ in 1995. The Bank is engaged in banking, non-banking financial services and non-financial…

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