Banking | - Part 94

Lending cap, drought hurting Kenya’s banks: Equity Group CEO

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenyan lenders are facing severe turbulence, grappling with a government cap on commercial lending rates, and the impact of a drought, Equity Group Chief Executive James Mwangi said on Wednesday. Equity, one of the country’s biggest by customers, saw its pretax profit edge up 3.75 percent last year to 24.9 billion shillings ($242.22 million), as it boosted provisions for bad debts. Mwangi said the cap on rates, at 4…

CIM Financial of Mauritius Sees Global Unit Sale Boosting Credit Business

Posted on by The Editorial Team

PORT LOUIS (Capital Markets in Africa) – CIM Financial Services Limited., which has operations spanning Mauritius and Singapore, plans to focus on developing its consumer-credit and real-estate businesses after selling off its Global Business unit. The company, based in Port Louis, announced earlier on Tuesday that it’s selling its Global Business unit — which offers corporate, trust and fiduciary services — to Luxembourg-based SGG SA for $90.3 million. The deal “will allow CIM to benefit from an important…

Africa’s Central Banks Reaction Amid Inflation and Growth Concerns

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Angola’s central bank left its benchmark BNA rate at 16.0% on 30th January 2017. The National Bank of Angola (BNA), which raised its rate 500 basis points last year – most recently in June – to curb inflation, added its monetary policy committee had also taken note of the trend of declining monetary indicators. Botswana’s central bank left its benchmark lending rate unchanged at 5.5% on 28th February 2017, saying…

Tanzania central bank asks commercial banks to cut lending rates

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DAR ES SALAAM (Capital Markets in Africa) – Tanzania’s central bank has asked commercial banks to consider lowering their lending rates to help spark credit growth in east Africa’s second-largest economy. Bank of Tanzania cut its discount rate to 12 percent from 16 percent effectively from March 6, the first time it has lowered borrowing costs since 2013, after a steep drop in private-sector credit growth last year. There were expectations that the move “will enhance…

StanChart Said to Revamp Investment Banking to Boost Revenue

Posted on by The Editorial Team

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Standard Chartered Plc has revamped its investment banking division in a push to boost income from existing clients, as the Asia-focused lender attempts to restore revenue growth after years of missing targets, two people familiar with the move said. Paul Skelton, who heads global banking, has divided his unit into five industry segments and five regions to simplify and improve relationships with clients, said the people, who asked not to…

Tanzania central bank slashes its discount rate to 12 pct

Posted on by The Editorial Team

DAR ES SALAAM (Capital Markets in Africa) – Tanzania’s central bank cut its discount rate to 12 percent from 16 percent to help spur lending and boost economic growth, the first time it has lowered borrowing costs since 2013. The cut, which the central bank said in a circular to commercial banks seen by Reuters becomes effective on Monday, follows a steep drop in private sector credit growth last year. “The discount rate which is applicable…

Botswana keeps lending rate unchanged at 5.5%, sees low and stable inflation

Posted on by The Editorial Team

GABORONE (Capital Markets in Africa) – Botswana’s central bank maintained its benchmark Bank Rate at 5.50 percent and forecast low and stable inflation in the medium term, consistent with the 3-6 percent target range, that augurs well for accommodative monetary policy that can support lending to businesses and households. Bank Botswana (BB), which cut its rate by 50 basis points in August 2016, also said it aimed for a 0.26 percent upward rate of crawl…

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