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Saudi Arabia, UAE cut rates; Banque Centrale Populaire H1 profit up

* In a divided decision, the U.S. Federal Reserve lowered the bank's benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points yesterday, easing policy for the second time this year to stave off worries about a potential slowdown.

GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL

* Following the Fed's move, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority lowered the repo rate by 25 basis points to 2.50% from 2.75% and the reverse repo rate to 2.00% from 2.25%. The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates also cut interest rates applied to the issuance of its certificates of deposits by 25 basis points, WAM reported. Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Kuwait maintained its discount rate at 3.0%.

* The amended capital market law in Saudi Araba would pave the way for other bourses to be formed in the country, with the Saudi Capital Market Authority planning to grant licenses for companies planning to provide exchange, depository or clearing house operations, Reuters wrote, citing the regulator's chairman, Mohammed bin Abdullah Elkuwaiz. Granting license to other stock exchange operators could be a first step in privatizing the state-owned Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) as Saudi Arabia seeks more revenues sources other than oil.

* Samba Financial Group Chairman Ammar al-Khudairi said the bank aims to widen its network by 30% to 40% as growth momentum in Saudi Arabia accelerates, Argaam reported, citing CNBC Arabia.

* Consolidation in Saudi Arabia's banking sector does not pose threats as long regulators are open to issue more licenses, Ahmed Alkholifey, governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority, told Argaam. The central bank is reviewing two license applications by commercial banks and one from a digital bank.

* Qatar First Bank LLC (Public)'s board of directors appointed Salman Abdullah Al Abdul Ghani vice chairman.

* Cedric Lizin stepped down as wealth management head of UBS Group AG's branch in Dubai after two years in the role, finews.com reported. The banker, who also served as senior executive officer of the Swiss lender's branch, is reportedly moving to a rival private bank.

* Warba Bank KSCP issued $500 million in five-year Islamic bonds, or sukuk, with total orders reaching $3.16 billion, exceeding the issue volume with oversubscription of 6.32x.

* Warba Bank plans to open a representative office in China, Al-Jardia reported.

* Global Investment House KSC (Closed)'s general assembly approved the merger with KAMCO Investment Company K.S.C.P., with an exchange rate of 0.755522821 share of Kamco for every 1 share of Global. The assembly also approved the decrease of the issued and paid-up capital to 48.2 million Kuwaiti dinars from 49.5 million dinars.

REST OF MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA

* Israel's Central Election Committee is still counting ballots, with 95% of the votes during Tuesday's polls already tallied, The Jerusalem Post reported.

* Jordan's central bank has also cut its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 4.25%, after the Fed's rate cut, Reuters reported.

* Iranian member of parliament Mehdi Farshadan said lenders in the country should limit the number of their branches and expand online "to enhance their agility," the Financial Tribune reported, citing IBENA. This comes as the high number of bank branches draws concern from economic experts and government officials.

* Banque Centrale Populaire's first-half net profit attributable to shareholders rose 5.5% year over year to 1.64 billion Moroccan dirhams, according to Reuters.

* Egypt's Financial Regulatory Authority has amended laws to ensure the representation of women in board of directors of banks and financial institutions, in a move that aims to improve the country's ranking in the Doing Business report, Al-Masry Al-Youm reported.

EAST AND WEST AFRICA

* 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 digitalization, CEO Lamin Manjang told Bloomberg News.

* 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.

* Nigeria's central bank will begin imposing a cashless policy across the country beginning March 31, 2020. The new policy would also impose charges on deposits — on top of existing charges on withdrawals — in certain cities and states, effective Sept. 18.

* Union Bank of Nigeria PLC said its chairman, Cyril Odu, died Sept. 17. Richard Kramer also retired as a nonexecutive director of the bank, effective Sept. 16.

* The Nigerian central bank has granted financial technology firm Itex Integrated Services Ltd. a super agent license, enabling the company to carry out basic financial services operations, The Punch reported.

* Payment service banks Hope PSB, Money Master PSB and 9PSB have received approvals in principle from the Nigerian central bank, The Punch noted. The companies are expected to submit their applications for a full license in no later than six months.

* 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.

* Société Générale Burkina Faso, which is 52.6% owned by French banking group Société Générale SA, is to receive a subordinated loan of €25 million from Proparco, the development finance institution partly owned by the French Development Agency, Agence Ecofin reported. It is aimed at strengthening the bank's capital. The interest rate and maturity of the credit have not been disclosed.

* 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.

CENTRAL AND 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 non-performing 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."

IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD

Asia-Pacific: US Fed cuts rates; DBS Bank eyes Thailand in AUM expansion plans

Europe: Metro Bank execs probed; HSBC French unit under review; Lloyd's H1 profit up

Latin America: Cofide mulls appeal over Minera IRL case; Banrisul cuts share count in offering

North America: FB Financial to acquire Ky.-based bank; JPMorgan leads race for Deutsche clients

Global Insurance: Lloyd's pretax profit surge; named storm trio; American Progressive fined

Erin Tanchico, Henni Abdelghani, Sophie Davies and Helen Popper contributed to this report.

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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.