Banking | - Part 88

Barclays Reaches Target on Africa Stake as It Boosts Sale

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Barclays Plc reached a long-term target for shrinking its stake in its African unit earlier than expected as the bank boosted the size of a share sale by more than 50 percent. The London-based lender is selling 285.7 million shares of Barclays Africa Group Ltd., equal to a 33.7 percent stake, at 132 rand each, it said in a statement on Thursday. The bank previously planned to sell a 22 percent stake…

Barclays Shares Surge After Report Suggests Africa Group Sale Imminent

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Barclays plc shares rose to the near top of the FTSE 100 Wednesday after a report from Sky News suggested the bank will announce the sale of a substantial stake in its troubled African division. The deal could raise around £1.6 billion ($2 billion) for the British lender while reducing its stake in the Johannesburg listed Barclays Africa Group from 51% to around 28%, Sky reported. Barclays stock rose…

Mauritian Banks Seen as Haven as Politics And Oil Roil Peers

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PORT LOUIS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Mauritian banks are becoming beacons of growth and stability in sub-Saharan Africa. Unscathed by the vagaries of the oil price and unhindered by the political battles that have roiled some of their continental peers, the Indian Ocean island’s lenders have been bolstered by an economy growing faster than many of the mainland countries. The central bank expects the Mauritian economy to expand as much as 4 percent this year, compared with…

Kenyan Central Bank Says Lenders Face New Era of Smaller Profits

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenyan lenders must adjust their business models to adapt to a new era of lower profits as interest-rate caps curb investor returns, Central Bank of Kenya Governor Patrick Njoroge said. Return on equity in the Kenyan banking industry declined to 13.6 percent in March from 18.2 percent in June, Njoroge told reporters Tuesday in the capital, Nairobi. For the country’s biggest lenders, the drop was more severe, slumping to 23 percent…

Kenya central bank keeps benchmark rate at 10 percent

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya’s central bank kept its benchmark lending rate at 10.0 percent on Monday, the bank’s monetary policy committee said, a bid to reduce the threat of demand-driven inflation. Analysts polled by Reuters had predicted rates wouldn’t change. The government, which faces parliamentary, presidential and local elections in August, is struggling to contain high inflation, caused mostly by higher food prices. Kenya’s inflation rose to an annual 11.48 percent in…

South Africa Rate on Hold as Central Bank Warns of Rand Risk

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – The South African Reserve Bank left its key rate unchanged for a seventh straight meeting as policy makers warned politics and ratings downgrades could still knock the rand and scupper an improving inflation outlook. The Monetary Policy Committee maintained the benchmark repurchase rate at 7 percent, Governor Lesetja Kganyago told reporters Thursday in the capital, Pretoria. The decision was in line with the estimates of all 21 economists in a Bloomberg…

Kenya’s Biggest Bank Warns Rate Caps Risk Crippling Industry

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Equity Group Holdings Ltd., Kenya’s biggest bank by market value, posted a 6 percent decline in first-quarter profit as its chief executive officer warned government-imposed caps on commercial lending rates risk crippling the industry. Net income slid to 4.83 billion shillings ($47 million) in the three months through March as the revenue generated from loans after expenses tumbled 15 percent to 8.89 billion shillings, the Nairobi-based lender said in…

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