The Editorial Team

Zero Fossil-Fuel Lending Ahead in Nedbank’s $3.5 Billion Plan

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) — Nedbank Group Ltd. has committed 50 billion rand ($3.5 billion) to renewable energy projects as the South African lender forges ahead with plans to retreat from fossil-fuel financing. The nation’s fifth-largest lender by value has already approved over 37 billion rand for clean-energy developments. It also secured deals in South Africa’s latest bidding round for participation in renewable projects to extend a further 12 billion rand, Nedbank Chief Financial…

Nigerians Shun Naira for Foreign Currencies to Store Wealth

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — Nigerians have been accumulating foreign currencies to protect their wealth from naira volatility and surging inflation, according to a research paper in a journal published by the Central Bank of Nigeria. “Higher real-exchange rate volatility is associated with an increased level of currency substitution,” central bank economists including Isaiah Ajibola, Sylvanus Udoette, Rabia Muhammad and John Anigwe said in the paper available on the central bank’s website. There is…

Angola Made Her Africa’s Richest Woman, But the Tide Has Turned

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LUANDA (Capital Markets in Africa) — A year after Angolan authorities cracked down on her multibillion-dollar business empire, Africa’s once-richest woman is watching it crumble. From self-imposed exile in Dubai, Isabel dos Santos has been fighting a legal battle against Angola’s government as court orders roil her companies. In Luanda, shelves at the Candando supermarket stores are more than half-empty. A beer factory south of the capital is running at 30% of its production capacity. Operations at…

Breakaway Soccer League Sparks European War Over Richest Sport

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LONDON(Capital Markets in Africa) — European soccer is embroiled in an escalating multi-billion-euro battle for control of the continent’s most prestigious club competition after a dozen teams declared themselves founding members of a breakaway league. The announcement of the 4 billion-euro ($4.8 billion) defection financed by JPMorgan Chase & Co. prompted an outcry from fans, governments and UEFA, European soccer’s governing body. In response, UEFA is now exploring a 6 billion-euro financing proposal from U.K.-based asset manager Centricus to fund a revamped Champions League,…

Late to Fintech Boom, Nigerian Banks Turn to Regulators for Help

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — Nigerian banks’ dominance of their home turf is virtually unparalleled. Largely protected by regulators from foreign competition, Nigerian lenders control 94% of their domestic market, by assets, the world’s largest share of local ownership after Israel, according to a report published before Covid-19 hit in 2020 by Chris Ogbechie and Lilac Nachum, scholars at Lagos Business School. But the threat is now homegrown. Nigerian banks are only now starting to counter…

Paris Club Seizes Pandemic Opportunity to Reclaim Lost Influence

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — Like clockwork through the 1990s, Sufian Beker trekked to Paris to plead for cuts in Ethiopia’s soaring debt. As the war-torn country’s finance minister from 1996 to 2015, Beker had few options other than what’s known as the Paris Club, an informal group of wealthy nations that has bailed out governments from Argentina to Zambia. In 2004 he found himself again in the monumental French Treasury building towering over…

Absa CEO Exits After Reported Squabbles Over Bank’s Strategy

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JOHANNESBURG(Capital Markets in Africa) — Absa Group Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Daniel Mminele is leaving South Africa’s third-largest bank following a dispute with other directors over strategy, ending a 16-month tenure just as the lender looks to bounce back from the Covid-19 crisis. The board and CEO differed on matters of “strategy and culture transformation,” the Johannesburg-based lender said in a statement Tuesday, without giving more detail. Financial Director Jason Quinn will step into the…

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