Trump’s Indefinite Travel Ban Opens New Stage in Legal Fight

Trump’s Indefinite Travel Ban Opens New Stage in Legal Fight

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – President Donald Trump restricted or suspended travel to the U.S. from eight countries, adding North Korea and Venezuela, while subtracting Sudan, from his earlier ban on travellers from six Muslim-majority nations. “I must act to protect the security and interests of the United States and its people,” Trump wrote in Sunday’s proclamation. The move came as the original order, which had been limited by court challenges, was set to expire. Speaking to…

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UK New immigration check requirements on banks and building societies: are you prepared?

UK New immigration check requirements on banks and building societies: are you prepared?

 LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – From 1 January 2018, banks and building societies will be required to undertake quarterly immigration status checks on all existing customer current accounts.  Following this, the Home Office may then require the bank (or building society) to close any accounts or products operated by or for a person who does not have leave to remain in the UK.  Those subject to the requirements should act now to ensure that…

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Why Africa Is Set to Backstop Britain’s Post-Brexit Health Care?

Why Africa Is Set to Backstop Britain’s Post-Brexit Health Care?

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – The South African companies that dominate the U.K.’s growing private hospital industry are counting on more people like Katie Corrie. A children’s party entertainer, Corrie opted to use 13,000 pounds ($17,000) of her savings and inheritance to get a hip replacement rather than spend months on a National Health Service waiting list. Britons like her are forking out almost 1 billion pounds a year to cover their own medical…

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Ghana Is Said to Triple Minimum Capital Requirements for Banks

Ghana Is Said to Triple Minimum Capital Requirements for Banks

ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Bank of Ghana more than trebled minimum capital requirements for lenders as part of reforms aimed at strengthening the industry, according to people familiar with the matter. Banks will need to set aside at least 400 million cedis ($91 million) in capital compared with 120 million cedis previously to meet their license obligations, the people said, asking not to be identified because an official announcement hasn’t yet been made. Lenders…

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Largest Africa Economies Need More Growth to Cut Joblessness

Largest Africa Economies Need More Growth to Cut Joblessness

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – A surge in agriculture has helped lift Africa’s biggest economies out of their slumps, but the recovery may be weak. Gross domestic product in Nigeria, the continent’s largest crude producer, advanced for the first time in six quarters in the three months ended June from a year earlier, growing 0.55 percent, the statistics agency said. In South Africa, GDP expanded 2.5 percent from the previous quarter, ending the second recession in almost…

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Fairfax Is Said to Back AfriSam to Clinch African Cement Deal

Fairfax Is Said to Back AfriSam to Clinch African Cement Deal

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. is prepared to inject as much as 5 billion rand ($386 million) to pay off bank debt owed by AfriSam Group Pty Ltd. and help South Africa’s second-biggest cement producer clinch a tie-up with larger rival PPC Ltd., according to two people familiar with the matter. The money from the African unit of the Canadian insurer will be used to repay bank loans and allow AfriSam to…

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Congo Regulator to Open Up $500 Million Insurance Industry

Congo Regulator to Open Up $500 Million Insurance Industry

KINSHASA (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Democratic Republic of Congo’s insurance regulator is preparing to open up an industry for the first time that could be worth as much as $500 million a year to investors. The newly created Insurance Regulatory Authority, known by the French acronym ARCA, received interest from at least 16 companies after requesting letters of intent in June, Managing Director Eric Mboma said, declining to identify individual firms. It will seek…

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