Banking

JOHANNESBURG (Bloomberg) — Absa Group Ltd. has opted to break with most of its South African rivals and keep preserving capital at the expense of paying dividends — but pledged to look at ways to make up for the pause when appropriate. South Africa’s third-largest bank expects to gradually resume dividends from the first half of 2021, unlike peers who have already resumed payouts. Should loan growth fail to take off as hoped, excess capital…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — Lendable Ltd. is raising funds to enable fresh loans of $120 million and $180 million this year to customers in Africa, South East Asia and Latin America, according to co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Daniel Goldfarb. The London-based lender, whose financiers include New York investment firm Waterfall Asset Management LLC, is seeking $15 million to $25 million in combined debt and equity and separately expects “a larger transaction for a…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — Standard Bank Group Ltd. said any economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic in Africa would likely take until late this year or even 2022, warning of the long wait ahead for lenders struck by a slump in borrowing and spending. The continent’s largest bank reported a 51% decline in profit after taxes and other adjustments for the year through December, according to a statement on Thursday. The Johannesburg-based company also declared…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen dismissed fears that President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion pandemic-relief bills is so big that it will cause an inflation problem, as she seeks to push the recovery deeper into the U.S. labor market to address long-standing economic disparities. Yellen called the impact on women and minorities from Covid-19 “absolutely tragic.” She has repeatedly rejected concerns that Biden’s stimulus is excessive given the economy’s signs of…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — Nigeria’s central bank governor suggested the nation’s currency has been devalued. Addressing bankers at a summit on the economy in Lagos on Friday, Governor Godwin Emefiele said the official exchange rate now stands at 410 to the dollar. That’s 7.6% weaker than the rate of 379 published on the central bank’s website. “In order to adjust for the decrease in the supply of foreign exchange, the naira depreciated at the official…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — A “disinflationary” mindset has taken hold among U.S. businesses and consumers that will be hard to dislodge despite stronger economic growth this year, said Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Thomas Barkin. “There are disinflationary pressures that are quite profound and seem to be continuing,” Barkin told an online event Monday hosted by the Maryland Bankers Association. “As long as you’ve got those disinflationary headwinds, it’s just going to…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — South Africa’s banking regulator eased guidance to lenders that they shouldn’t pay dividends and executive bonuses — though warned that protecting cash reserves must still take priority amid ongoing uncertainty from the Covid-19 pandemic. Where boards approve such payouts, they should be “prudent and commensurate with the assessment of current conditions and potential future uncertainty,” Prudential Authority Chief Executive Officer Kuben Naidoo said in a note to the industry. Banks should also…