Banking | - Part 78

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…

Standard Bank Denied Access to Rand-Rigging Investigation Record

Posted on by The Editorial Team

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…

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

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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….

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

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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…

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

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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…

Tanzania Leader Appoints Tax Specialist Central Bank Chief

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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…

United Kingdom Manufacturing Sums Up Interest-Rate Dilemma for the BOE

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – For a picture book example of the dilemma facing Bank of England policy makers, look no further than the U.K. manufacturing industry. On the downside for the economy, demand and confidence at factories is declining and investment is weakening, according to a survey from the Confederation of British Industry. But, in a sign of a potential squeeze that could intensify price pressures, the percentage of firms operating below capacity is the…

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