Features

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – A former Standard Bank Group Ltd. lawyer testified that the South African lender resisted pressure to reverse its decision to close accounts linked to members of the Gupta family, who are friends of former President Jacob Zuma, after they were implicated in a series of suspicious transactions. Ian Sinton, who retired as Standard Bank’s group general counsel in June, was testifying on Monday at the judicial panel investigating the use of political…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria accused HSBC Holdings Plc of money laundering after an analyst working for the lender said that the second term for President Muhammadu Buhari may stall economic recovery in Africa’s biggest oil producer. “What killed Nigeria’s economy in the past was the unbridled looting of state resources by leaders, the type which was actively supported by HSBC,” presidential spokesman Garba Shehu said in a statement late Saturday. A bank that “continued until a…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — Rainy season flooding across Nigeria has killed more than 100 people, as water poured over the banks of the West African country’s two major rivers, and into numerous cities and towns. Officials prepared on Monday to declare a natural disaster, which would allow for the mobilization of military and other resources to 12 states that have been badly affected. President Muhammadu Buhari has authorized the equivalent of $8.2 million…

FinTech is transforming the financial services by the impact of Blockchain, Mobile Money, Open Banking and Payments Innovation in Africa. The growth of FinTech has enabled consumers to sidestep traditional ways from using banking to mobile wallets for any transaction between each other. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: The unique environment for financial services in Africa is fertile ground for innovative FinTech players who are not only disrupting but also building it from the scratch which is…

NAIROBI(Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta proposed a 50 percent reduction on an unpopular new tax on petroleum products and promised expenditure cuts across government departments. The East African state introduced the 16 percent value-added tax on gasoline on Sept. 1 that it said would help raise 35 billion shillings ($345.8 million) to plug a budget deficit of 5.9 percent of gross domestic product in the fiscal year through June 30, 2019. “I must…

COMOROS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Comoros asked Tanzania to extradite a former vice president wanted for questioning over an alleged coup plot, the Indian Ocean archipelago’s state prosecutor said. Djaffar Ahmed Said Hassani fled to Tanzania earlier this month fearing arrest over the conspiracy, Mohamed Abdou told reporters Wednesday in the capital, Moroni. Immigration officers who helped Hassani leave the country have been questioned by the authorities, he said. “By fleeing earlier this month,…