Banking | - Part 2

Angola’s Biggest Bank to Sell Bad Loans to Restore Profit

LUANDA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Angola’s biggest bank plans to sell non-performing loans as part of a reorganization to return to profit. Banco de Poupanca e Credito SARL, known as BPC, aims to dispose of 231 billion kwanzas ($1.38 billion) of its unpaid loans to a state-owned company created earlier this year to recover bad debt and free the nation’s banks to lend again, according to Chairman Ricardo Viegas D’Abreu. The lender has also been…

Atlas Mara Sells Stake to Revive Nigerian Ambitions

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Atlas Mara Ltd., which has dropped almost 80 percent since an initial public offering led by co-founder Bob Diamond, plans to raise more than its market value by selling a 35 percent stake to Fairfax Africa Holdings Corp. The firm expects to get $200 million from selling new stock to existing shareholders and Fairfax Africa and will also issue a fresh convertible bond to the Toronto-based investment company, the company said in…

South Africa Central Bank to Fight `Unlawful’ Mandate Proposal

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s central bank accused the graft ombudsman of overreaching her powers and promised to fight a proposal to change the institution’s primary objective of protecting the value of the currency. “The Reserve Bank has consulted its legal team and has been advised that the remedial action prescribed by the Public Protector falls outside her powers and is unlawful,” the Pretoria-based central bank said in a statement on its website. Public…

Kenyan Lender CBA Agrees to Acquire Crane Bank’s Rwanda Unit

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Commercial Bank of Africa Ltd., a closely held Kenyan lender, agreed to acquire the Rwandan unit of Crane Bank Ltd., Uganda’s fourth-largest lender. An agreement on the purchase has been signed, the Nairobi-based lender said in an emailed statement on Thursday. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval, it said. “The acquisition signals CBA’s strategic intentions to expand its existing business operations in Rwanda and participate meaningfully in Rwanda’s economic growth…

Moody’s assigns first-time ratings to Union Bank of Nigeria Plc

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London (Capital Markets in Africa) – Moody’s Investors Service has today assigned first-time ratings to Union Bank of Nigeria plc (Union Bank): long- and short-term Local and Foreign Currency Deposit and Issuer Ratings of B2/Not Prime, and a b3 Baseline Credit Assessment (BCA). Moody’s also assigned long- and short-term Counterparty Risk (CR) Assessment of B1(cr)/Not Prime(cr), long- and short-term National Scale Local Currency Ratings of Aa3.ng/NG-1, and long- and short-term National Scale Foreign Currency Ratings…

Barclays Sells Zimbabwe Bank to Malawi’s First Merchant

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Barclays has announced the sale of its Zimbabwe bank to Malawi-listed First Merchant Bank on Friday as the British lender continues its exit from Africa. In March Barclays announced it was in talks on the sale of its stake in Barclays Bank of Zimbabwe as part of a broader exit from Africa to refocus on the United States and Britain. Barclays said the deal would remove 292 million pounds ($375.69 million)…

Kenyan Central Bank Says Lenders Face New Era of Smaller Profits

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenyan lenders must adjust their business models to adapt to a new era of lower profits as interest-rate caps curb investor returns, Central Bank of Kenya Governor Patrick Njoroge said. Return on equity in the Kenyan banking industry declined to 13.6 percent in March from 18.2 percent in June, Njoroge told reporters Tuesday in the capital, Nairobi. For the country’s biggest lenders, the drop was more severe, slumping to 23 percent…

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