Banking

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) — A strong end to the year for Barclays Plc traders helped the British lender deliver a share buyback and a return to dividends even as the bank said the outlook for 2021 remained uncertain. The London-based firm’s securities division reported a better-than-expected 45% rise in market revenue for the year, the biggest trading jump among major global investment banks. But the pandemic continued to slam the bank’s lending businesses,…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — Inflationary pressures and currency weakness could force central banks in some key African economies to tighten monetary policy, even as the slow rollout of coronavirus vaccines and new mutations of the disease poses risks to economic growth. Mozambique and Zambia became the first two countries in the world to raise their benchmark interest rates this year, and Zimbabwe did the same on Thursday. Three of sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest economies…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa ) — Bitcoin jumped to a record high after Mastercard Inc. and Bank of New York Mellon Corp. moved to make it easier for customers to use cryptocurrencies. The largest digital asset rose as much as 8.1% to $48,663, surpassing the all-time high reached Monday after Tesla Inc. announced it would hold $1.5 billion of the cryptocurrency on its balance sheet. The wider Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index also touched a record. “Bitcoin…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — Nigerian investors are switching out of stocks to position for higher yields in the fixed-income market, with banks emerging as the worst-hit sector. An index of the top 10 banking stocks extended its decline to a fourth day in Lagos Thursday, dropping 3% to a nine-week low. Guaranty Trust Bank Plc led declines in the sector, falling 5.1%, while Union Bank of Nigeria Plc slid 8%. “The market is reacting to…

PORT LOUIS (Capital Markets in Africa) — Mauritius Investment Corp., a central bank unit set up to help the Indian Ocean island economy weather the coronavirus crisis, has approved 16.5 billion rupees ($415 million) of financing to companies so far. In May 2020, the central bank formed MIC — which has access to as much as $2 billion of the nation’s international reserves — as part of relief measures for companies hurt by the Covid-19…

LUANDA (Capital Markets in Africa) — Standard Bank Group Ltd. is interested in buying shares it doesn’t already own in its Angolan unit after an investor in the business was detained and his shares seized by authorities. “Over the last two years we have increased our stake in our subsidiaries in Kenya and in Nigeria,” Sola David-Borha, the chief executive officer of Johannesburg-based Standard Bank’s African division, said in a video call. “If the opportunity arises…