trending Market Intelligence /marketintelligence/en/news-insights/trending/baumyypvvkygqtefqyfzzw2 content esgSubNav
In This List

CI Ratings downgrades Oman; South Africa fines Chinese bank branch

Podcast

Street Talk Episode 87

Blog

A New Dawn for European Bank M&A Top 5 Trends

Blog

Insight Weekly: US banks' loan growth; record share buybacks; utility M&A outlook

Blog

Banking Essentials Newsletter 2021: December Edition


CI Ratings downgrades Oman; South Africa fines Chinese bank branch

* The United Nations' Economic Commission for Africa has launched a partnership with the African Union's Pan African Mutual Risk Management to promote climate risk insurance coverage in Africa, Financial Afrik said. Africa is expected to see climate change adaptation costs reach $50 billion annually by 2050, according to the UN.

* Africa loses $80 billion a year in illicit financial flows, 70% of which are in the extractive industries, according to African Union Trade and Industry Commissioner Albert Mu-changa, Agence Ecofin, reported.

MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA

* Capital Intelligence Ratings lowered Oman's long-term foreign- and local-currency ratings to BBB from BBB+. The stable outlook on the sovereign ratings was affirmed.

* Capital Intelligence Ratings affirmed Kuwait's AA- long-term foreign- and local-currency ratings and its A1+ short-term foreign- and local-currency ratings, with a stable outlook.

* Saudi Arabia's Capital Market Authority said the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority's decision to prohibit Mediterranean and Gulf Cooperative Insurance and Reinsurance Co. from issuing and renewing insurance policies will have a negative impact on the company's financial statements, which in turn may result in the insurer delisting or being suspended from the Saudi stock exchange.

* The United Arab Emirates' Securities and Commodities Authority warned investors against all digital, token-based fundraising activities or investment schemes in the country, reiterating that it does not recognize, regulate or supervise any initial coin offerings presently and that ICO investments are not offered legal or regulatory protection.

* Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank PJSC reported fourth-quarter 2017 net profit of 607.2 million UAE dirhams, up from 455.1 million dirhams in the same period in 2016. For full year 2017, the bank reported net profit of 2.30 billion dirhams, compared to 1.95 billion dirhams a year earlier.

* United Insurance Co. (PSC) appointed Bilal Adhami CEO with retro effect from Feb. 1.

* Nasser Hakimi, head of the Central Bank of Iran's information technology department, also warned against investing in digital currencies such as bitcoin, the Islamic Republic News Agency reported, citing an interview with the Iran-Daily.

* Bank Saderat Iran is set to sell shares in five companies on Feb. 20, as part of efforts to reduce the Iranian lender's excess assets, according to the Financial Tribune.

* Sudan's central bank will weaken the bank trading foreign exchange rate to around 28.8 Sudanese pounds to 31.5 pounds per U.S. dollar, effective today, from an initial band of 16 pounds to 20 pounds per dollar, Reuters wrote.

* The Central Bank of Tunisia maintained its key interest rate at 5%, Reuters reported.

* Data from the Central Bank of Egypt showed that the country's foreign-currency reserves rose the most since July 2017 in January 2018 to $38.2 billion, Bloomberg News wrote.

EAST AND WEST AFRICA

* Sanlam Kenya Plc CEO Mugo Kibati is expected to leave the insurance firm March 1, according to Standard Digital. The company's board appointed George Kuria to serve as acting CEO.

* Newly licensed Nigeria-based lender Nova Merchant Bank Ltd. formally commenced operations Feb. 1, Business Post Nigeria wrote.

CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN AFRICA

* South Africa's banking sector remains stable weeks into 2018, despite the domestic economy's ongoing struggle with low growth, according to S&P Global Ratings. The rating agency noted that the outlooks on all rated South African banks are stable for the first time since 2013. S&P expects the banks to continue to enjoy resilient financial performance in 2018 but noted that profitability has likely peaked.

* The South African Reserve Bank has fined China Construction Bank's Johannesburg branch 75 million South African rand for noncompliance with the country's financial intelligence law. The regulator said it found weaknesses in the lender's control measures against money laundering and terrorism financing. The central bank added that 20 million rand of the fine is suspended for three years from Nov. 28, 2017, pending the lender's compliance with conditions imposed by the regulator.

* South African President Jacob Zuma is facing a no-confidence vote this month, Reuters reported. Parliament speaker Baleka Mbete approved the opposition Economic Freedom Fighters' request for a motion of no confidence and scheduled the vote Feb. 22.

* Capitec Bank Holdings Ltd. rejected a call to take on a second auditor following a Viceroy Research report questioning the South African lender's loan book and level impairments, according to Business Report Online.

* S&P Global Ratings affirmed Mozambique's long- and short-term foreign-currency sovereign credit ratings at SD/SD, and its long- and short-term local-currency sovereign credit ratings at B-/B. The outlook on the long-term local-currency rating remains stable.

* Banco de Fomento Angola SA reported net income of $416.4 million in fiscal year 2017, up from $371.2 million a year ago, news agency Angop reported. Spain's CaixaBank SA, which acquired a 48.1% stake in Banco de Fomento Angola after taking majority control of Portugal's Banco BPI SA, took a €119 million charge in the fourth quarter of 2017, related to BFA, including €76 million to account for inflation in Angola. CaixaBank intends to reduce its stake in BFA in line with a nonbinding recommendation from the European Central Bank.

* Jingdong Hua, the vice president of the World Bank's International Finance Corp., announced a $34 million credit line for Angola's private sector at the end of a visit to the oil-producing country, state news agency Angop reported. The financing will be used for projects that diversify the local industry and strengthen the capital market.

* Angola's foreign reserves reached a record low at the end of 2017 and could disappear altogether within 21 months if they continue to decline at the same rate, Portuguese news agency Lusa and Expansão newspaper wrote.

* Mozambique's central bank helped the government to pay off more than $200 million in Treasury bills in 2016 due to an acute financing crisis and lent the government a similar sum to cover repayments on two loans to public companies at the center of a $2 billion public debt scandal, news website Zitamar reported. Mozambique's government later failed to honor a state guarantee on debt issued by fishing company Ematum and a syndicated loan to security firm Proindicus.

IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD

Asia-Pacific: China fines 19 banks over loan fraud; Union Bank of India posts Q3 net loss

Sheryl Obejera, Henni Abdelghani, Pádraig Belton and Helen Popper contributed to this report.

The Daily Dose Middle East and Africa has an editorial deadline of 4 a.m. London time. Some external links may require a subscription.