The Editorial Team |

South Africa | Barclays Unit Rejects South Africa Minister’s Invite to Gupta Talks

Johannesburg, South Africa, Capital Markets in Africa: Barclays Africa Group Limited’s Absa declined an invitation to meet South African Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane to discuss the closure of bank accounts related to companies controlled by the Gupta family, who are friends of President Jacob Zuma and in business with his son. “We have respectfully declined on account of client confidentiality,” the Johannesburg-based lender said in an e-mailed response to questions on Wednesday. “As a bank we cannot discuss any…

Africa’s growth: Meltdown or slowdown?

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JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, Capital Markets in Africa: Economic growth across the region is likely to remain slower in coming years than it has been over the past 10 to15 years. The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) baseline projection for 2016 is now down to 3%, from what was a forecasted 6.1% in April 2015(1). The main reasons for a relative slowdown are not unique to Africa and are the same as those weighing down the global…

Nigeria’s Access Bank Latest Lender Targeted in Anti-Graft Drive

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LAGOS, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa: Access Bank Plc, a Nigerian lender, said Group Managing Director Herbert Wigwe was taken and questioned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission at its offices about a client bank transaction last week, the third bank to be caught up in an investigation by the nation’s anti-graft agency. Wigwe was released on May 6, the Lagos-based bank with offices in seven other countries, said in a statement posted on the Nigerian…

Finance | Swaziland secures US$63 million AfDB loan to finance smallholder irrigation project

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Mbabane, Swaziland, Capital Markets in Africa: Swaziland has secured a US $63 million (ZAR 2.01 billion) loan to finance the second phase of the Lower Usuthu Smallholder Irrigation Project (LUSIP II) in the south eastern part of the country. The LUSIP II, approved by the African Development Bank Board on Wednesday, May 5, 2016, is a follow-up project to the LUSIP-I which was completed in 2010. The project was a response to the Government’s recognition…

Kenya | Equity Group Pauses Africa Expansion Plans as Economies Slow

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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…

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