Banking

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s ruling party has taken a decision to nationalize the central bank and it will be implemented, President Cyril Ramaphosa said. “We have got to go through processes,” Ramaphosa told parliament in Cape Town on Thursday. “There is no hidden agenda.” Ramaphosa’s comments come a day after he was scheduled to meet with Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago in Cape Town. Kganyago on Wednesday emphasized the importance of central bank independence in…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) -Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has come under pressure from his political allies to replace central bank Governor Godwin Emefiele when his term ends in June, according to people familiar with the matter. While Buhari has yet to make a final decision, he is mulling replacing Emefiele, a southerner, with a northerner, according to two people, who asked not to be identified as the matter is private. Emefiele would want a second term if he…

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,…