MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA
* Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there is no reason for elections to take place early in June as media reports have suggested, amid intensifying corruption probes linked to him, the Agence France-Press reported. Netanyahu and his wife Sara were questioned by Israeli police Friday over their links with the majority shareholder of telecommunications company Bezeq, the Financial Times reported.
* The Israeli Capital Markets, Insurance and Savings Authority outlined proposed guidelines aimed at preventing a controlling shareholder in a financial institution from being chairman of that company, Globes wrote. Such rules would require the chairmen of Harel Insurance Investments and Menorah Mivtachim Holdings Ltd., Yair Hamburger and Eran Griffel, to step down from their roles.
* Banque Saudi Fransi
* Shuaa Capital PSC
* Roughly 30 companies across the Gulf Cooperation Council are expected to go public this year, according to a report by Kuwait Financial Centre, the Times of Oman noted.
* The Iranian government sold 693.6 million shares or a 17.14% stake in Alborz Insurance Co.
* Masoud Karbasian, Iran's minister of economic affairs and finance, said the government plans to rate certified banks from the next fiscal year beginning March 21, the Financial Tribune reported.
* S&P Global Ratings affirmed Lebanon's long- and short-term foreign- and local-currency sovereign credit ratings at B-/B. The outlook remains stable.
* Capital Intelligence Ratings affirmed Egypt's long- and short-term foreign- and local-currency ratings at B/B, and revised the outlook on the country's ratings to positive from stable.
EAST AND WEST AFRICA
* Moody's assigned first-time local- and foreign-currency issuer ratings of B1 to Tanzania, with a negative outlook, citing constraints to the east African country's economic, institutional and fiscal health.
* S&P affirmed Cape Verde's long- and short-term foreign- and local-currency sovereign credit ratings at B/B. The outlook is stable.
* The IMF urged Ghana to enact laws to increase revenues by at least 0.5% of GDP before the fund reviews a $918 million credit facility program next month, Reuters reported.
* Ghana became a sovereign shareholder in the African Finance Corp. with an initial equity investment of $10 million and a commitment to invest a further $40 million.
* Papa Kwesi Nduom, president of Ghana-based Groupe Nduom, signaled that the company is working on plans to start transactions in cryptocurrencies, Citi Business News wrote. "[W]e are going to make sure that the cryptocurrency revolution that is going on doesn't pass us by," Nduom reportedly said.
* Banque Internationale pour le Mali, majority-owned by Morocco-based Attijariwafa Bank SA, replaced its director general, Hassan Oustani, with Mohamed Ghazi, formerly director general of Crédit du Sénégal, according to Financial Afrik.
* The Economic Community of West African States ordered Guinea-Bissau's five commercial banks to freeze the accounts of 19 people associated with the country's political crisis, including the son of President José Mário Vaz, Financial Afrik wrote.
CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN AFRICA
* The Angolan central bank raised the minimum share capital requirements for local commercial banks to 7.5 billion Angolan kwanzas from 2.5 billion kwanzas and gave lenders until 2018-end to meet the new threshold, Macauhub and Expansão reported. The central bank said banks that will fail to meet the requirement should "consider alternatives, including mergers."
* Nedbank Group Ltd.
* Liberty Holdings Ltd.
* African Phoenix Investments Ltd.
* Peter Schlebusch stepped down as CEO of Standard Bank Group Ltd.'s personal and business bank. He will be replaced by Zweli Manyathi.
* Louis Paul Motaze will head Cameroon's finance ministry as part of changes made by President Paul Biya to his cabinet, Bloomberg News wrote.
IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD
Asia-Pacific: China plans economic supervision overhaul; Australian asset manager mulls M&A
Leo Magno, 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. S&P Global Ratings and S&P Global Market Intelligence are owned by S&P Global Inc.
