Banking | - Part 68

Nigerians Bury Cash in Backyards as Mobile Money Stumbles

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Every few days, Tasiu Abdurrahman takes the money he makes from selling spices in Nigeria’s biggest northern city and buries it in his yard. The 55-year-old closed his bank account eight years ago after growing disillusioned with standing in long lines for hours to deposit or withdraw cash. Abdurrahman is one of about 50 million of the unbanked in Nigeria, which despite having Africa’s largest mobile-phone market, is only just opening…

South Africa Reserve Bank Warns of Price Risks as It Holds Key Rate

Posted on by The Editorial Team

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s central bank warned of upside risks to inflation as it held the key interest rate at a two-year low. The Monetary Policy Committee unanimously decided to keep the repurchase rate at 6.5 percent Thursday. All 15 economists in a Bloomberg survey predicted the freeze. The rand had its worst month in more than two years in June as the U.S. and China exchanged tariff blows at a time when…

Mauritian Central Bank Urges Lenders to Boost Deposit Rates

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PORT LOUIS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Mauritius’s central bank urged commercial lenders benefiting from the lowest official interest rates in more than a decade to increase the amount they pay depositors. Bank of Mauritius Governor Yandraduth Googoolye said he plans to put the revision of savings rates on the agenda at a forthcoming meeting with lenders. “Bearing in mind that in 2015 banks had lowered interests rates without any change in the key repo rate, I know…

South African Rate-Hold Bets Firm Up as June CPI Undershoots

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South African consumer prices accelerated at a slower pace than economists’ expectations in June, cementing the case for the central bank to hold its benchmark rate Thursday. The annual inflation rate was 4.6 percent compared with 4.4 percent in May, Pretoria-based Statistics South Africa said in a statement Wednesday. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey was 4.8 percent. The rand had its worst month in more than two years…

Fed’s Powell Says Gradual Rate Hikes Are the Best Path `For Now’

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank will continue to gradually raise interest rates “for now’’ to keep inflation near target amid a strong U.S. labor market. The Federal Open Market Committee, the Fed panel that sets interest rates, “believes that — for now — the best way forward is to keep gradually raising the federal funds rate,” Powell said in prepared testimony before the Senate Banking Committee. “We…

Nigerian Lender Sees Credit Surging as Banks Sign Up for Loans

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Development Bank of Nigeria Plc, a state-owned lender set up to improve access to credit in Africa’s largest economy, expects loans to small businesses to surge after the number of banks signing up to disburse the facilities more than doubled. The state-owned bank, targeting as much as 60 billion naira ($166 million) of loans this year, expects lending to small- and medium-sized companies to reach “hundreds of billions of…

Ghana Takes Back Control of Bank After `Questionable’ Deals

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ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ghana took back control of Agricultural Development Bank Ltd. after the regulator annulled deals for more than half of the lender’s shares following its initial public offering in 2016. The West African nation’s central bank regulator cancelled the holdings of Belstar Capital Ltd., Starmount Development Co., Ecobank Capital Ltd. and SIC Financial Services Ltd., which together held 52 percent in the lender known as ADB, Bank of Ghana said in a statement on Monday….

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