Banking

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…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) — Nedbank Group Ltd. is leading discussions to restructure South African power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd.’s 464 billion ($32 billion) debt load, according to people familiar with the talks. The parties met in recent days, and one of the options is to transfer at least 100 billion rand of debt to a special-purpose vehicle that would be overseen by the Public Investment Corp., Africa’s biggest fund manager, the people said….

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…