The Editorial Team |

Kenya | Equity Group Pauses Africa Expansion Plans as Economies Slow

Nairobi, Kenya, Capital Markets in Africa: Equity Group Holdings Ltd., Kenya’s biggest bank by market value, put plans to expand into five other African countries on hold after sliding prices for commodities from oil to copper caused currencies to tumble. The lender, which had prioritized entries into Nigeria, Angola, Ghana, Mozambique and Zambia, will instead focus on deepening its presence in markets in which it already operates by growing branch networks, Chief Executive Officer James Mwangi said. “We…

Nigeria |MasterCard Sees Growth in Nigerian Traders Without Bank Accounts

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LAGOS, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa — MasterCard Inc. plans to introduce new payment systems in Nigeria that will target merchants who don’t have bank accounts and rely mostly on cash transactions. The company is working with the umbrella organizations of Nigerian traders and collaborating with banks and technology companies to start offering the services this year, Omokehinde Ojomuyide, MasterCard’s vice president and area business head for West Africa, said May 6 in an interview in Lagos,…

Is there Room for Exchange Traded Funds in the African Context?

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LAGOS, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa: In the third quarter of 2015, financial commentators were abuzz when industry research group ETFGI announced that the global Exchange Traded Fund (“ETF”) market has surpassed the Hedge Fund industry in terms of size for the first time ever. With assets under management of $2.971 trillion as at the end of Q2 2015, its quarterly growth of $45 billion during the same quarter made it surpass the Hedge Fund…

South Africa Rand Falls Most Among Emerging Markets After Jobless Rate Climbs

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Johannesburg, South Africa, Capital Markets in Africa — The rand fell to its weakest in a month after data showing theSouth African jobless rate at the highest in at least eight years added to concerns that economic growth may be slow to revive. The rand dropped as much as 2.1 percent against the dollar and traded at 15.1716 by 4:38 p.m. in Johannesburg, the weakest since April 7 on a closing basis and the biggest loser among 24…

Developing an Appropriate Benchmark Index for African Equity Fund

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LAGOS, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa: Although most investors have adopted a preferred benchmark or index to measure or track the performance of developed markets, agreeing on benchmarks for emerging and frontier markets still needs to be established. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) coined the terms emerging markets and frontier markets and was the pioneer in creating equity indices in these markets. S&P Dow Jones Indices (SPDJI) acquired Africa Indices from the IFC in 2000…

South Africa | Partnerships Can Avert South Africa Junk Rating, Radebe Says

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Johannesburg, South Africa, Capital Markets in Africa — South Africa’s government is confident that its partnerships with business and labor can help it avert a credit-rating downgrade to junk, according to Jeff Radebe, Minister for Planning, Performance, Monitoring & Evaluation in the Presidency. “We are not envisaging a downgrade because we have put in measures as a government working with our partners in the private sector and labor to ensure that we stay the course,” Rabede told…

Morocco’s Macroeconomic Prospects unfavourable but positive momentum

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Casablanca, Morocco, Capital Markets in Africa: Prospects for the Morocco economy in 2016 are mixed with very weak economic growth on the one hand and, on the other, an on-going contraction in the twin deficits, which will help restore the long-term health of the country’s public finances and balance of payments. As far as the growth outlook is concerned, expectations of weak GDP growth in 2016 should once again highlight the economy’s sensitivity to the…

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