Banking

  LONDON, United Kingdom, March 1, 2023/ — The Co-Financing, Syndications and Client Solutions department of the African Development Bank Group (www.AfDB.org) has met with London-based insurers to galvanize continued support of the Bank’s balance sheet optimization and mobilization ambitions, in line with its 2023 lending program. The Bank held an investor relationship event on 28 February, attended by representatives from over 30 insurance companies from the London, Bermudan and other international markets, including many…

Goldman Sachs anticipated that Ghana will need six to nine months from the start of negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to reach a deal on a funded program, as it considered that authorities are not showing a sense of urgency to conclude an agreement with the IMF. It expected the government to rely on foreign currency reserves to meet its external financing needs in the near term given the lack of international market…

LAGOS (Capital Markers in Africa) – Fitch Ratings identified more than 600 reports on banks globally with meaningful cases of governance failure between 2020 and June 2022, out of more than 1,500 reports on banks that were subject to financial crime, governance and regulatory issues, or institutional scandals. First, it indicated that nearly 300 reports fell in the ”regulatory fines” category. It noted that the majority of the fines were minor and consist of small…

LUSAKA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Zambia’s central bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged for a third successive meeting as it sees inflation in single digits over the next two years. The monetary policy committee held the rate at 9%, Governor Denny Kalyalya told reporters Wednesday in Lusaka, the capital.  While annual inflation quickened for the first time in a year to 9.9% in July and may remain elevated in the final quarter of this year and…

WINDHOEK (Capital Markets in Africa) – Namibia’s central bank raised borrowing costs by the biggest margin in almost two decades to safeguard its currency peg with South Africa’s rand and quell inflation.  The monetary policy committee lifted the rate by 75 basis points to 5.5%, Deputy Governor Ebson Uanguta told reporters in the capital, Windhoek, on Wednesday. That’s the biggest increase since September 2002. The hike brings Namibia on par with South Africa, which raised its benchmark interest…