Ghana Central Bank Governor Sees Room for Further Rate Cut

Ghana Central Bank Governor Sees Room for Further Rate Cut

ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Bank of Ghana Governor Ernest Addison said there is scope for a further cut in the country’s main interest rate should the economy keep improving.  “If the fundamentals of the economy are seen to be improving, then there is room for a rate cut, even though inflation has stayed at around 12 percent,” he said in an interview Tuesday in the capital, Accra. The central bank of West Africa’s biggest economy…

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FirstRand, South Africa Challenges U.K. Lenders With Aldermore Buy

FirstRand, South Africa Challenges U.K. Lenders With Aldermore Buy

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Africa’s largest lender by market value plans to take on Britain’s biggest banks with the takeover of Aldermore Group Plc as growth in its home market stutters. FirstRand Ltd. said on Monday it agreed to buy all of Aldermore after winning the backing of the U.K. lender’s board and its largest shareholder. The offer, which values Aldermore at about 1.1 billion pounds ($1.4 billion), will help the Johannesburg-based company diversify away from…

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Standard Bank Denied Access to Rand-Rigging Investigation Record

Standard Bank Denied Access to Rand-Rigging Investigation Record

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s Competition Tribunal declined Standard Bank Group Ltd.’s request for the early release of the investigators’ report into the lender’s alleged part in currency manipulation. The tribunal, which rules on antitrust matters like a court, won’t “order the immediate production of the record, as Standard Bank was not yet entitled to it,” the Pretoria-based antitrust body said in an emailed statement on Monday. While the earlier production of the investigation…

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Moody’s: Morocco’s diversifying economy and stable policy support positive banking system

Moody’s: Morocco’s diversifying economy and stable policy support positive banking system

RABAT (Capital Markets in Africa) – Moody’s Investors Service (Moody’s) says its outlook for the Moroccan banking system is positive, supported in part by the country’s on-going economic diversification and stable and predictable political and economic policy environment. Moody’s report, “Banking system outlook: Morocco, improving operating environment and rising credit growth support positive outlook”, is available on www.moodys.com. Moody’s subscribers can access this report via the link provided at the end of this press release….

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HSBC Said to Be Focus of Criminal Probe Sought by U.K. Lawmaker

HSBC Said to Be Focus of Criminal Probe Sought by U.K. Lawmaker

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – HSBC Holdings Plc is the unnamed bank that is the focus of a senior British lawmaker’s demand for a criminal probe into a relationship with South Africa’s Gupta family, according to two people with knowledge of the allegations. Peter Hain, a Labour Party member of the House of Lords, asked the authorities to investigate a U.K. bank for “possible criminal complicity,” after it allegedly failed to take action on…

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UniCredit $21 Billion Bad-Loan Sale Said to Draw ECB Review

UniCredit $21 Billion Bad-Loan Sale Said to Draw ECB Review

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The European Central Bank is examining UniCredit Spa’s landmark bad-loan sale of 17.7 billion euros ($20.6 billion) to assess if the price the bank reported is inflated by fees that should be stripped out, according to people familiar with the matter. Some of the commissions the Italian bank will pay to the buyers to manage the loans over coming years could affect the price, the people said, asking not to…

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Tanzania Leader Appoints Tax Specialist Central Bank Chief

Tanzania Leader Appoints Tax Specialist Central Bank Chief

DAR ES SALAAM (Capital Markets in Africa) – Tanzanian President John Magufuli named Florens Luoga, a tax-law expert, as the new head of the central bank as the East African nation’s leader seeks to overhaul the country’s natural-resources industry. In July, Magufuli appointed Luoga as chairman of the Tanzania Revenue Authority board. He’s been a deputy vice chancellor at the University of Dar es Salaam since 2014, according to the academic institution’s website. “We had a…

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