The Editorial Team |

Nigeria Softens Rules Shielding Banks From Wireless Rivals

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria is preparing rules that will allow wireless carriers to transfer cash, softening a previous policy that protected the turf of banks in Africa’s most populous country. The central bank may have realized it can’t rely on lenders alone to achieve its objective of extending services to the 50 million adults still without a bank account in the nation of about 200 million people. Telecommunications firms, including South Africa’s MTN…

JPMorgan Says Payments to Libya Oil-Fund Fixer Weren’t Bribes

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TRIPOLI (Capital Markets in Africa) – JPMorgan Chase & Co. acknowledged that Bear Stearns made millions of dollars of payments to a friend of the son of Libyan dictator Moammar Al Qaddafi around the time it raised $200 million for the country’s wealth fund. But the bank is refuting the Libyan Investment Authority’s central allegation in a London lawsuit that the funds were used to bribe and intimidate officials who awarded the 2007 bond deal. The payments were for help…

Top Congo Coltan Miner Joins Rival Tracing Program, Exits ITSCI

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KINSHASA (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Democratic Republic of Congo’s top exporter of coltan — a raw material needed to make mobile phones — has signed on to a rival mineral-tracing program after exiting the more-established ITSCI system. Societe Miniere de Bisunzu is joining RCS Global Group’s Better Sourcing system, the parties said in a joint statement. Like ITSCI, Better Sourcing provides tracking and verification services for minerals originating in Congo and neighboring countries…

Congo Opposition Leader Backs Electoral-Commission Results Delay

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KINSHASA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Democratic Republic of Congo presidential candidate Felix Tshisekedi backed the electoral commission’s postponement of election results, cleaving the opposition’s response to the delay. The National Independent Electoral Commission, or CENI, put off the announcement of the outcome of the Dec. 30 presidential election indefinitely on Sunday — the day it was scheduled to announce a provisional winner. While two African observer missions endorsed the polls, rival opposition candidate Martin Fayulu criticized the delay…

Mozambique Loan Bribe Claims May Void Debts, Law Professor Says

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MAPUTO (Capital Markets in Africa) – The arrest of Mozambique’s ex-finance minister and three former Credit Suisse AG managers over alleged bribes could render void about $2 billion of project loans to the country, according to Mitu Gulati, a law professor at Duke University in the U.S. The projects, a tuna fishing and coastal protection system, were created to enrich those involved, and at least $200 million of the proceeds went to bribes and kickbacks, according to an…

Gabon Coup Attempt Poses Little Risk to Oil Market

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Any potential disruption to Gabon’s oil output, following a military coup attempt, would only have an impact on a small share of OPEC’s total output because the country produces so little. Military officers seized Gabon’s state broadcaster Monday in what appeared to be a coup against ailing President Ali Bongo. The soldiers who attempted the coup have been arrested and there has been no reported disruption to the country’s oil output, which accounts for…

No Looking Back for S. African Rand as Bears Lose Conviction

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Rand bears are on the retreat as South Africa’s currency heads into 2019. The currency got off to a blistering start to the year, adding 3 percent amid receding worries over the U.S.-China trade war and the Federal Reserve’s second thoughts about policy tightening. And in a sign investor are leaving last year’s 14 percent slump behind them, some bearish indicators back at levels last seen before Turkey’s meltdown in August….

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