Banking

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Bank of England’s dovish shift in the past week has already rippled through markets, and now economists are starting to react too. NatWest Markets, a division of Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, changed its interest-rate forecast and now sees a cut to 0.5% from 0.75% at this month’s meeting. Economist Ross Walker sees a second reduction later in the year, having previously predicted no move by the BOE at…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa must move quickly to implement the reforms needed to salvage its status as an investment destination and breathe life into the struggling economy. “SA is rapidly becoming a forgotten country and has stopped being talked about as an investment destination,” James Formby, the chief executive officer of FirstRand Ltd.’s Rand Merchant Bank, wrote in Johannesburg-based newspaper Business Day. “It’s no longer five to midnight, it is midnight. We cannot…

ABIDJAN (Capital Markets in Africa) – NSIA Group’s banking unit plans to expand in the 12 West and Central African countries where the Ivorian company has insurance businesses. NSIA Banque first wants to establish a firm presence in the West African Economic and Monetary Union before looking “outside the zone,” Managing Director Leonce Yace said in an interview at the bank’s headquarters in Abidjan, the economic capital of Ivory Coast. The lender recently completed the acquisition…

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) – After shedding 8% of their workforce last year, Zimbabwean banks may cut more jobs in 2020 as the economy shrivels and the sector increasingly shifts away from cash and toward digital services. “The banking industry, just like the rest of the economy, will suffer negative growth this year, which could result in even more job cuts,” said Sijabuliso Biyam, the chief executive officer of the Bankers Association of Zimbabwe. “The sector…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – A group of Barclays Plc shareholders has filed what they say is the first climate change resolution at a European bank, taking aim at the lender’s support of fossil fuels. Eleven institutional investors and more than 100 individuals urged Barclays to say how it will phase out financing energy firms that don’t align with the Paris Agreement climate goals, according to a statement from U.K. non-profit ShareAction, which coordinated the…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Outgoing Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said central banks globally are getting close to running out of tools should they need to tackle another serious economic downturn. “It’s generally true that there’s much less ammunition for all the major central banks than they previously had, and I’m of the opinion that this situation will persist for some time,” he said in an interview with the Financial Times to…

NEW YORK (Capital Markets in Africa) – Citigroup Inc. plans to recruit 2,500 programmers this year for the unit that houses its traders and investment bankers, bulking up on coders and data scientists as technology reshapes the business. Roughly three-quarters of the company’s trade orders last year were electronic, according to Stuart Riley, global head of operations and technology for the bank’s Institutional Clients Group. The ICG arm will add programmers in locations from New York to…