Cameroon Seeks to Improve Cocoa Bean Quality After Declines

Cameroon Seeks to Improve Cocoa Bean Quality After Declines

YAOUNDE (Capital Markets in Africa) – Cameroon is taking steps to encourage farmers to grow better quality cocoa after a deterioration in last year’s crop resulted in lower prices for the country’s beans. About 90 percent of Cameroon’s cocoa exports in the season through July were classed as Grade 2, the second of three quality ratings for beans, according to Trade Minister Luc Magloire Atangana Mbarga. That compared with 97 percent previously and meant that Cameroonian…

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Old Mutual Wealth to Absorb Some MiFID-Related Costs

Old Mutual Wealth to Absorb Some MiFID-Related Costs

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Old Mutual Wealth, a unit of Old Mutual Plc, said it will absorb some additional expenses when Europe’s MiFID II takes effect next year, though it hasn’t yet announced whether it will pass onto its clients the cost of external research for funds. “Absorbing costs is something we have to do and we already are,” Paul Feeney, chief executive officer of Old Mutual Wealth, said in an interview in Johannesburg on…

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Mauritius Attorney General Quits Over Money-Laundering

Mauritius Attorney General Quits Over Money-Laundering

PORT LOUIS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Mauritian Attorney General Ravi Yerrigadoo stepped down to allow an investigation into allegations of money laundering, Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth said. Yerrigadoo quit at Jugnauth’s request to “ensure the investigation is conducted in a transparent manner,” the premier told reporters Wednesday in the capital, Port Louis. Le Defi, a Port Louis-based newspaper, reported that an affidavit was submitted to Mauritius’s Supreme Court on Tuesday alleging that Yerrigadoo helped set…

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North Korea Hackers Step Up Bitcoin Attacks Amid Sanctions

North Korea Hackers Step Up Bitcoin Attacks Amid Sanctions

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – North Korea appears to be stepping up efforts to secure bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, which could be used to avoid trade restrictions including new sanctions approved by the United Nations Security Council. Hackers from Kim Jong Un’s regime are increasing their attacks on cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea and related sites, according to anew report from security researcher FireEye Inc. They also breached an English-language bitcoin news website and collected bitcoin ransom payments from…

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Kuwait Says OPEC May Decide on Extending Cuts in March 2018

Kuwait Says OPEC May Decide on Extending Cuts in March 2018

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – OPEC and allied oil producers will keep reviewing options for their agreement to cut output, and a final decision on extending the deal beyond March could be postponed until the first quarter of 2018, Kuwait’s oil minister said. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will consider all its alternatives if the market doesn’t re-balance by the end of March when the cuts expire, Kuwait’s Oil Minister Issam Almarzooq said Wednesday at a…

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Campaign for More Diamond Ads Wins Support From India’s Gem Hub

Campaign for More Diamond Ads Wins Support From India’s Gem Hub

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The push for bigger diamond advertising campaigns and marketing to wealthy millennials has won support from a key part of the industry: India’s manufacturers and retailers. India’s Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council, which represents almost 6,000 diamond companies, has agreed to contribute $2 million to the Diamond Producers Association, a group designed to promote gems and backed by miners, according to executives from both organizations. India is the…

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South Africa Central Bank Says Graft Ombudsman Met Zuma Lawyers

South Africa Central Bank Says Graft Ombudsman Met Zuma Lawyers

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – The country’s graft ombudsman used a probe into an apartheid-era bailout of a lender to attack the South African Reserve Bank and didn’t disclose a meeting with lawyers in President Jacob Zuma’s office to discuss the investigation before its findings were released, the central bank said. Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane instructed lawmakers in a June 19 report to amend the constitution to make the bank focus on the “socioeconomic well-being of the citizens”…

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