Banking

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…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — Nigeria’s government disagrees with the International Monetary Fund’s recommendations that it further marks down its currency that’s more than 18% overvalued to ease external imbalances, the Washington-based lender said. President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration sees currency pressures stemming from global outflows caused by the coronavirus pandemic and believes another depreciation would add to double-digit inflation, according to the IMF’s Article IV report for the country that was published Monday. The disagreement underscores…

NEW YORK (Capital Markets in Africa) — Jerome Powell doesn’t want to talk about scaling back massive Federal Reserve asset purchases — at least not yet — but it’s only a question of time before the discussion resumes and that might not be a bad thing. The Fed chair told reporters on Jan. 27 that “the whole focus on exit is premature” — a clear call to his colleagues to focus on the economic damage…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) — Young bankers waiting to learn when or whether they might be relocated to the European Union can take some solace from the fact that oftentimes, their bosses also don’t know their own fate. A senior banker hired to work in London last year was asked just weeks later to pack his bags and move to Europe. Some trading managers at one U.S. bank still don’t know whether they’ll be…

ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) — The Bank of England is preparing to take a significant step into the debate on whether negative interest rates should be used to stimulate the coronavirus-stricken U.K. economy. The central bank this week is due to publish the results of 160 detailed responses to a consultation about how borrowing costs could be pushed below zero for the first time since it was founded in 1694. The controversial policy, already…