Banking

LAGOS, Capital Markets in Africa: Skye Bank Plc, whose top management was replaced by regulators this month, surged for a second day following a report that a major debtor reached an agreement that may help it repay the Nigerian lender. The stock closed up 9.1 percent to 72 kobo in Lagos, the best performer on the 171-member Nigerian Stock Exchange All-Share Index. Almost 58 million shares were traded, about four times the three-month daily average. Skye plunged…

LAGOS, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa: Atlas Mara Limited, the company co-founded by former Barclays Plc Chief Executive Officer Bob Diamond to buy lenders in Africa, fell to a record low as concern over the health of Nigeria’s banking industry spread. Atlas Mara, which owns at least 21 percent of Lagos-based Union Bank Nigeria Plc, dropped for the fourth time in seven days in London trading on Wednesday. That mirrors declines among most Nigerian lenders after the central bank replaced the…

LAGOS, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa: Nigeria’s central bank said all its lenders are safe, aiming to quell fears after it ousted the management of Skye Bank Plc on Monday for failing to meet capital and liquidity thresholds. “The Central Bank of Nigeria hereby reassures the banking and general public that their deposits remain safe,” Isaac Okorafor, a spokesman for the Abuja-based regulator, said in an e-mailed statement Wednesday. “There is, therefore, no need for panic withdrawals…

LAGOS, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa: Nigeria’s central bank replaced almost all the members of Skye Bank Plc’s board for repeatedly failing to meet minimum thresholds on liquidity and capital adequacy ratios. Chief Executive Officer Timothy Oguntayo and three of the bank’s eight other executives quit, along with Chairman Olatunde Ayeni and seven other non-executives, Governor Godwin Emefiele told reporters in Lagos on Monday. Alhaji Ahmad was named as new chairman and Adetokunbo Mukhail Abiru, a former Harvard Business School graduate…