Banking

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…

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…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) — African Bank Holdings Ltd.’s new chief executive officer is looking at ways to accelerate a planned expansion from its roots in micro-lending to become a broader financial platform. Kennedy Bungane was hired to head the Johannesburg-based lender this week after Basani Maluleke resigned in January. The CEO’s appointment marks a return to the industry for the 46-year-old, who has spent the last seven years in roles such as running industrial-holding company Phembani Group….

NEW YORK (Capital Markets in Africa — Federal Reserve rate-hike expectations have been aggressively reduced over the past two weeks in the eurodollar futures market, just as policy makers enter their usual silent period before their April 28 decision. The rapid repricing has removed around 15 basis points of rate increases from the December 2022 eurodollar futures contract. This shift away from fully pricing in a 25-basis-point rise has prompted Citigroup Inc.’s Jason Williams to fade the…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The African banking group started by former Barclays Plc Chief Executive Officer Bob Diamond agreed to sell its stake in African Banking Corporation Botswana to Nigeria’s Access Bank Plc, according to statements on Monday. The deal marks the second transaction between Atlas Mara and Nigeria’s biggest lender, which agreed to buy its Mozambique unit last September. Access Bank will buy a 78.15% shareholding in the Botswana lender for a…

LAGOS(Capital Markets in Africa) — The Nigerian federal and state governments need to cut back spending to deal with a drop in revenues instead of depending on the central bank for financing, Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed said on Monday. Ahmed denied claims by a state governor that the central bank printed money to make up a 50 billion naira ($122 million) shortfall on federal revenues earmarked for the 36 federal states in March. “We will…

Namibia Holds Interest Rate at 3.75% to Support Economic Growth Namibia’s central bank held its key interest rate steady for a fourth meeting as it seeks to support economic growth and protect its peg to the South African rand. The monetary policy committee kept the rate at 3.75%, Governor Johannes !Gawaxab told reporters Wednesday in the capital, Windhoek. It follows an unchanged decision by the South African Reserve Bank last month, and means Namibia’s benchmark…