Features | - Part 169

Matt Levine’s Money Stuff: Deregulation and Proxy Recounts

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – There have been a lot of stories recently about how the U.S. government has kind of given up on financial regulation. This week the Senate moved to limit strict Fed oversight (and stress tests) to just the dozen biggest banks. Here is a story about how the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has gotten much laxer on a range of mostly consumer-protection-type regulations. (Its interim head “declared that the agency was returning…

Secession Talk Enters Kenyan Mainstream as Poll Feud Simmers

Posted on by The Editorial Team

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya’s protracted election dispute has spawned secession calls from opposition supporters who say their vote has no influence on how East Africa’s biggest economy is governed. The increased agitation follows the declaration of President Uhuru Kenyatta as the winner of October’s election rerun that the main opposition alliance boycotted, alleging it wouldn’t be a fair vote. His victory in the poll, in which turnout was just 38.8 percent and clustered in…

Mugabe Refusal to Quit Is Said to Stall Zimbabwe Transition

Posted on by The Editorial Team

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) – Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s refusal to publicly resign is stalling plans by the military to swiftly install a transitional government after seizing power on Wednesday, two people familiar with the situation said. The military wants Mugabe, who’s under house arrest, to agree to step aside so it can claim its action isn’t a coup and head off tension with the Southern African Development Community, which includes Zimbabwe and South Africa,…

Bitcoin’s Rivals Multiply Amid Battle for Crypto Dominance

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – It’s getting tougher and tougher to keep track of all the different versions of bitcoin. New iterations of the cryptocurrency are multiplying as disagreements over bitcoin’s design persist and opportunities for making a quick buck prove hard to pass up. The biggest offshoot, called bitcoin cash, appeared in August after a so-called hard fork in the bitcoin blockchain. That spinoff, currently valued at $18 billion, was followed by a less successful…

Congo’s Electoral Body Says Vote Schedule Depends on Funding

Posted on by The Editorial Team

KINSHASA (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Democratic Republic of Congo’s international partners must provide urgent financial support for the country’s electoral process so that delayed polls can take place next December, the head of the electoral authority said. “What I will advise our partners is either they want to finance it and we kick this off, or they don’t want to finance it,” Independent Electoral Commission President Corneille Nangaa said in an interview Tuesday…

Nigeria to Meet New York Investors to Sell Longest-Dated Bonds

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria is set to meet global debt investors this week as it looks to sell its longest-maturity Eurobond yet. The government mandated Citigroup Inc. and Standard Chartered Plc to arrange a 10- and 30-year transaction, according to a person familiar with the matter, who isn’t authorized to speak publicly. Nigerian officials will hold conference calls today, before meeting investors in London on Thursday and in New York on Friday,…

Zimbabwe Power Brokers: Key Figures in Battle to Succeed Mugabe

Posted on by The Editorial Team

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) – The military takeover of Zimbabwe on Wednesday marked the climax of a week of confrontation between the military and President Robert Mugabe, the nonagenarian leader who’s led the southern African nation for almost four decades. Four key figures within Zimbabwe’s ruling party will determine how the battle to succeed him plays out: Emmerson Mnangagwa, 75, has been a close ally of Mugabe’s since 1974 when the two were leading members…

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