Banking

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Bank of England is putting in place more buffers for the banking system as the prospect of a messy Brexit continues to hit companies and consumers. The new liquidity facility will allow U.K. lenders to access euro funding around the March 29 exit date from the European Union. Last week, the central bank said it would increase the frequency of its regular liquidity operations to weekly from monthly in a…

MONROVIA (Capital Markets in Africa) – A review into the alleged disappearance of almost $100 million in cash that Liberia’s government said was printed abroad and went missing after arriving at the port found no evidence to support the charge. The government of President George Weah ordered a probe in September into the disappearance of 15.5 billion Liberian dollar ($96 million) in banknotes between 2016 and 2018 and banned some current and former central bank officials from leaving the country while…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – John Flint, a lifer who rose to the top job at HSBC Holdings Plc in 2018, inherited an institution that had already seen shake-ups. In the previous seven years, 60,000 jobs had been eliminated and operations in 21 countries were sold, closed, or shrunk. Even so, the same core problem remains in the 67 countries where HSBC still does business: Costs are too high and revenue isn’t increasing fast enough. Profit in…

ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – The slump in Ghana’s currency to a record low against the dollar will be temporary and doesn’t reflect the West African nation’s positive economic fundamentals, according to the central bank. The cedi has declined 8.2 percent this year, the most among more than 140 currencies tracked by Bloomberg, posing risks to the inflation outlook and foreign-investor demand for the country’s bonds. Almost all of the losses came after the Bank of Ghana unexpectedly…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Mozambique’s government, caught up in a scandal after defaulting on $2 billion in loans, sued Credit Suisse Group AG and others in London. The lawsuit is against the Swiss lender, Privinvest Shipbuilding SAL and three individuals, according to a court document. The claim is being brought for potential breaches of commercial contracts and arrangements but the filing provided no further information. In December, the U.S. Department of Justice accused three former Credit Suisse workers,…

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) – Almost two decades of profligate monetary policy has destroyed Zimbabwe’s economy and fueled rampant inflation, decimating the savings of its people twice. Hyperinflation of as much as 500 billion percent in 2008 made savings worthless and led to the abolition of the local currency in favor of the dollar the following year. In 2016, former President Robert Mugabe’s cash-strapped government introduced securities known as bond notes that it insisted traded…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Bank of England stepped up its defenses against a disruptive Brexit and Governor Mark Carney offered more warnings about the damage that a no-deal withdrawal from the European Union could do to the economy. The central bank will offer lenders extra liquidity provisions around the March 29 exit date, a measure designed to smooth the plumbing of the market operating in times of potential stress. It mirrors its actions around…