* Islamic lenders in Africa will continue to perform well, and sukuk issuance on the continent will keep expanding steadily over the next 12 to 18 months to fund sovereigns and financial institutions, on the back of global investors' growing comfort with Islamic instruments, according to Moody's.
EAST AFRICA
* The Kenyan parliament's finance committee has rejected the finance ministry's proposal to repeal the law capping commercial interest rates, which were imposed in 2016, Reuters wrote. The committee said it will keep the rate cap but noted that the language of the rules should be amended for clarity.
* Ethiopia's central bank has issued a new directive, allowing international remittance service providers to open foreign currency accounts and maintain foreign currency in retention accounts, Addis Fortune reported.
* The Ugandan central bank has approved Egypt-based Banque du Caire SAE's proposed acquisition of a 40% stake in Uganda-based Cairo International Bank from National Bank of Egypt (SAE) and Banque Misr (SAE). Banque du Caire already holds a 60% stake in Cairo International Bank. Tarek Fayed, Banque du Caire's chairman, said the Bank of Uganda also approved Cairo International Bank's capital increase to $5 million.
* African Export-Import Bank and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni have agreed to house the lender's East African branch in the country, Business Daily Africa wrote. A formal agreement will be signed Sept. 19. The bank had long sought to establish the branch in Nairobi, but approvals were delayed.
* The World Bank approved the release of a $450 million loan to Tanzania under the lender's Second Productive Social Safety Net Project, which would focus on productive and financial inclusion, through support services such as savings groups, among others. This marks the first tranche of funds issued to the country after being suspended last year due to government policy concerns, Reuters noted.
WEST AFRICA
* The Central Bank of Nigeria rescheduled to Sept. 19 and Sept. 20 its next monetary policy committee meeting from Sept. 23 and Sept. 24 initially. Although no reason was stated for the change, a source told Reuters that Governor Godwin Emefiele is set to attend the U.N. General Assembly next week. Additionally, it will begin imposing a cashless policy across the country beginning March 31, 2020, which would impose charges on deposits — on top of existing charges on withdrawals — in certain cities and states, effective Sept. 18.
* Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria Ltd. is seeking to increase its market share of the local consumer-banking sector over the next two years, with its retail customers expected to increase to about 500,000 from 100,000 on the back of digitization, CEO Lamin Manjang told Bloomberg News.
* Banks in Ghana will absorb the cost of the envisaged Deposit Protection Insurance Corp. when it launches next month, Alhassan Andani, president of the Ghana Association of Bankers, told Citi Business News. Andani added that the new deposit insurance scheme would not lead to a charge for bank customers.
* Portugal's president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, rubber-stamped plans for state-run bank Caixa Geral de Depósitos SA to sell its stake in Cape Verde's Banco Comercial do Atlântico SA, but expressed concern that the sale would weaken the Portuguese presence in the African nation's financial system, Lusa news agency reported. The sale of the unit is part of a restructuring plan for CGD that also stipulated the sale of other foreign operations including units in Spain, South Africa and Brazil. Banco Comercial do Atlântico, which has 34 branches, posted a €1 million loss last year due to a court ruling affecting its pension fund.
* Nigerian payments firm Interswitch Ltd is in talks with potential anchor investors as it seeks to begin the process for its planned London IPO as early as November, insiders told Bloomberg News. Meanwhile, CFO John Maguire told Bloomberg that Interswitch plans to issue bonds of as much as 30 billion naira, with an initial 20 billion-naira tranche slated over the next two years, to fund operations as it seeks a mobile payments license in Nigeria.
SOUTHERN AFRICA
* Angola's Banco Keve SA has published a list of customers in default on their debts, giving the 57 individual and 41 corporate clients eight working days to contact the bank's legal department, Mercado reported. Banco Keve, which posted a net loss of 2 billion kwanzas in 2018, saw its bad debt portfolio double last year to reach 21.1 billion kwanzas. Many Angolan banks have been struggling with nonperforming loans in recent years due to an economic slowdown. Banco Keve's move came two weeks after state-run Banco de Poupança e Crédito SA published the names of 160 companies behind on their debts, Macauhub reported.
* Angola is paying $33.6 million per day to service its public debt, according to a report released Sept. 18 by Fitch Ratings, the official Portuguese news agency Lusa reported. The figure includes capital and interest. Fitch added that the country's debt-to-GDP ratio was expected to rise to 83.8% in 2019 from 80.2% last year, before steadily falling from 2020 onward. This week's report by the ratings agency explained in detail its decision in July to revise downward its outlook on the sovereign to "negative" from "stable."
* South Africa's banks remain resilient and are attractive investments despite a sagging economy, increasing credit losses and pressure on margins, analysts told S&P Global Market Intelligence.
* Old Mutual Ltd. Chairman Trevor Manuel has apologized for comments he made about the judge presiding over the South African insurer's legal dispute with Peter Moyo, its dismissed CEO, news outlets including Reuters and South Africa's Business Day reported. In a press conference last week, Trevor said "difficulty" arises when the board's decision to dismiss Moyo could be overturned "by a single individual who happens to wear a robe."
* South African Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said the country will likely fail to meet its target of a 1.5% economic growth this year largely due to increasing headwinds, with the state facing calls to bail out government-controlled firms, Reuters wrote.
* Zimbabwe's central bank increased its overnight borrowing rate to 70% from 50% to curb soaring inflation and support the country's currency. Annual headline inflation spiked to 175.5% in June from 56.9% in January, with the regulator warning that this could rise above 200% in the near term.
* The IMF said Namibia's economy faces a challenging outlook, with recovery projected to be slow. The fund noted that although the economy would rebalance, it still faces challenges including cutting public debt, shoring up international reserves and spurring growth.
* A third former Credit Suisse Group AG banker facing U.S. charges over Mozambique's "hidden debts" scandal has pleaded guilty to money laundering offenses in the case, Jornal Notícias reported, citing Portuguese news agency Lusa. Surjan Singh appeared before a New York court and pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, though two other charges of securities fraud and wire fraud were dropped. He joins two other former executives at the investment bank — Detelina Subeva and Andrew Pearse — who have also entered guilty pleas. The case centers on the granting of some $2 billion in loans to three state-owned Mozambican companies in 2013 and 2014.
CENTRAL AFRICA
* Compagnie Financière de l'Ouest Africain, the parent company of Amsa Assurances, has taken a 22% stake in the capital of Gabonese insurer Omnium Gabonais d'Assurances, Confidentiel Afrique reported.
Erin Tanchico, Sophie Davies and Helen Popper contributed to this report.
This S&P Global Market Intelligence news article may contain information about credit ratings issued by S&P Global Ratings. Descriptions in this news article were not prepared by S&P Global Ratings.
