Banking | - Part 4

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

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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…

StanChart Said to Revamp Investment Banking to Boost Revenue

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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…

FirstRand First-Half Profit Rises 13% After Bank Boosts Lending

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – FirstRand Ltd., Africa’s biggest bank by market value, said fiscal first-half profit rose 13 percent after lending increased and its insurance operations sold more policies. Net income increased to 11.89 billion rand ($904 million) in the six months ended Dec. 31, from 10.48 billion rand a year earlier, the Johannesburg-based company said in a statement on Thursday. The interim dividend rose 10 percent to 1.19 rand a share, exceeding growth in so-called…

South Africa’s Nedbank slashes value of Ecobank stake

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s Nedbank booked a $293 million write-down on the value of its stake in sub-Saharan lender Ecobank on Tuesday and reported its slowest growth in annual profit since 2009. Ecobank Transnational Inc’s operations in central and west Africa are exposed to some economies that have been pressured by the commodity price slide and unfavourable currency swings since Nedbank bought a 20 percent stake for $500 million in 2014….

Ghanaian banks face high asset risks, despite solid capital buffers, stable funding, Says Moody’s

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ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – High asset risks pose the biggest challenges for banks in Ghana, says Moody’s Investors Service in a report published today. Moody’s report, entitled “Banks — Ghana; Ghanaian banks face high asset risks, despite solid capital buffers, stable funding and an economic recovery,” is available on www.moodys.com. Moody’s subscribers can access this presentation via the link provided at the end of this press release. “We expect asset risk for banks…

Maiden investment into CAL Bank in Ghana by Arise set to advance economic growth

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CAPE TOWN (Capital Markets in Africa) — The recent acquisition of a 27.7 % stake in CAL Bank in Ghana by the newly formed investment company, Arise (www.AriseInvest.com) is set to boost the banking sector in the country. The shareholding in CAL Bank was acquired by Arise from DPI, a leading Africa-focused private equity firm with assets in excess of US$1 billion under management. The settlement is to be effected on 14 February 2017. Arise,…

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