Finance

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa)- Singapore’s family-run Tolaram Group made much of its $1.8 billion fortune in cereals, noodles, and infrastructure in Africa. Now, it’s planning to use its global reach and local relationships to move into digital banking there. The group has a blueprint of sorts from another business it owns — PT Bank Amar Indonesia. Bank Amar is largely a digital institution, with loans and deposits for consumers handled over mobile phones. The publicly listed group…

NEW YORK (Capital Markets in Africa) – President Donald Trump’s $4.8 trillion budget for the upcoming fiscal year proposes billions more in funding for defense and a U.S. mission to Mars but would bring steep cuts to social programs despite almost $1 trillion in deficit spending. The proposal, scheduled to be unveiled on Monday, is an election-year embodiment of many of the policy priorities Trump has championed over his first three years in office. He…

NEW YORK (Capital Markets in Africa) – Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the U.S. central bank is keeping a close eye on fallout from the deadly coronavirus outbreak in China, singling it out among risks threatening the U.S. and world economy. “In particular, we are closely monitoring the emergence of the coronavirus, which could lead to disruptions in China that spill over to the rest of the global economy,” Powell said in prepared remarks he’s scheduled…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – The European Union swiftly rebuffed calls from the U.K. government that London’s financial services firms should enjoy continued access to the single market even if the country breaks away from the bloc’s rules after Brexit. The U.K. Treasury had included the demand for so-called permanent equivalence in a draft of its opening positions for next month’s trade negotiations with the EU — some of which were revealed in a document that…

MAPUTO(Capital Markets in Africa) – Mozambique’s Attorney General withdrew appeals to have the country’s former finance minister sent home from South Africa, where he is in custody over a $2 billion debt scandal. Both the U.S. and Mozambique want South Africa to extradite Manuel Chang to face charges related to financial crimes. He’s been in custody in Johannesburg for more than a year since his arrest on U.S. charges. Chang, who’s denied wrongdoing, wants to face charges…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa)- Ghana plans to use as much as $1 billion of the Eurobonds it sold last week to help restructure the country’s obligations to independent power producers, said Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta. The West African country is in talks to re-negotiate supply deals with the power companies known as IPPs. The current take-or-pay agreements mean the government is billed even for unused electricity. “We are going to put about $1 billion aside from…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – Tidjane Thiam was ousted as chief executive officer of Credit Suisse Group AG, losing a boardroom showdown with the chairman in the wake of a tabloid scandal that unnerved the Swiss establishment. The 13 directors rebuffed appeals from major shareholders in the U.S. and U.K. to back Thiam and instead closed ranks behind Chairman Urs Rohner, giving him their “unanimous” support, according to a statement Friday. They picked Thomas Gottstein, a 20-year Credit…