The Editorial Team |

Regional Power Split Threatens Vote on Zuma’s Succession

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – The top leadership of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress starts meeting on Friday in a bid to heal a bitter split in the key region of KwaZulu-Natal that could derail its plans to elect a successor to President Jacob Zuma as party leader in December. The meeting comes after the High Court annulled the election of Zuma allies as the province’s party leadership because the conference that chose them wasn’t lawfully…

Uganda Fires Teargas as Protests Build Against `Life Presidency’

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KAMPALA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ugandan police fired teargas and arrested students protesting at the capital’s main university, local media reported, as the ruling party prepares to propose a constitutional amendment that would allow President Yoweri Museveni to seek to extend his three-decade rule. The police and army fought running battles with students at Kampala’s Makerere University on Thursday, the Observer newspaper said on its website. It also reported that police arrested the capital’s lord…

Visa-Free Access to Cape Verde for EU May Boost Growth to 7%

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Cape Verde will exempt European Union citizens from needing visas to visit the West African archipelago as it strives to boost tourism, which is vital to its economy, according to the prime minister. Visa-free access for EU passport holders should begin in 2018, Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva said by phone from Praia, the capital. The exemption is part of a raft of proposals that includes privatizing the ailing…

Billionaire Agarwal to Boost Anglo Stake by Up to $2 Billion

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Anil Agarwal, an Indian mining billionaire, is buying 1.5 billion pounds ($2 billion) worth of additional Anglo American Plc shares, increasing his stake in the blue-chip British miner that’s benefited from a recovery in commodity prices. Agarwal said Wednesday the purchase, which is the equivalent of about 9 percent, was a family investment and he doesn’t intend to make a takeover offer for the company, according to a statement. It comes…

Why `Contracts for Difference’ Are Under Scrutiny

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Contracts for difference, or CFDs, have hastened the demise of an Irish bank, triggered Ponzi schemes in Chile and featured in a $100 million U.S. insider-trading racket. More recently, they’ve spooked European regulators because of the risks they pose to retail investors. There are proposals to cap potential investor losses and to ban advertising of CFDs, which are pitched to investors via television commercials and sponsorships of soccer clubs from Real Madrid to…

UK banks to check 70m bank accounts in search for illegal immigrants

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LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – Banks and building societies are to carry out immigration checks on 70m current accounts from January in the biggest extension of Theresa May’s plans to create a “hostile environment” for illegal immigrants in Britain, the Guardian has learned. The Home Office expects to identify 6,000 visa overstayers, failed asylum seekers and foreign national offenders facing deportation in the first year of the checks, which are to be carried out quarterly….

Unintended Result of Nigerian Dollar Hunt Is Naira Shortage

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – First Nigerian businesses were hit by a dollar shortage. Now there aren’t enough naira. A central bank requirement that companies back forward dollar purchases with naira is drying up supplies, helping to underpin a 2.1 percent gain since the local currency fell to a record low against the greenback on Aug. 9. At the same time, an increase in government borrowing is spurring banks to invest in the safety of sovereign debt rather…

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