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US sanctions Iran central bank head; Abraaj moves to reassure creditors

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US sanctions Iran central bank head; Abraaj moves to reassure creditors

* The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Central Bank of Iran Governor Valiollah Seif and the assistant director of the central bank's international department, Ali Tarzali, for allegedly funneling millions of dollars from the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Qods Force to the Lebanese group Hezbollah. The department also sanctioned Iraq-based Al Bilad Islamic Bank for Investment and Finance (PSC) and its chairman and chief executive, Aras Habib, for allegedly acting as a conduit for the funds transferred from Tehran to Hezbollah.

MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA

* The Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) suspended trading in shares of Alawwal Bank and Saudi British Bank at the companies' requests, saying the two banks "will announce an event." The two Saudi lenders have been in merger talks since late April 2017. Tadawul said shares in Alawwal Bank will resume trading once the bank announces its event, while the trading suspension on Saudi British Bank's shares will be lifted May 16.

* Meanwhile, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority greenlighted the potential merger agreement between Al Ahlia Insurance Co. for Cooperative Insurance and Gulf Union Co-operative Insurance Co.

* Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority Governor Ahmed al-Kholifey said the central bank has hired a consultancy firm to review the potential use of cryptocurrencies in banking deals between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Al Eqtisadiah reported.

* Al Khalij Commercial Bank (al khaliji) PQSC said it is currently engaging with interested third parties in relation to a potential sale of 100% of its fully owned subsidiary Al khaliji France SA.

* Abraaj Group Ltd. told its creditors, including Mashreqbank PSC and Société Générale SA, that it is close to finding a buyer for a stake in its fund-management unit and will soon complete the proposed sale of a stake in Pakistani power utility K-Electric Ltd., insiders told Bloomberg News. Abraaj is seeking to steady its business and reassure banks amid a dispute with investors over allegations of misused funds.

* Netherlands-based ABN AMRO Group NV plans to shutter its office in Dubai over the course of the year and transfer some of its existing clients to other locations because of the limited scale of its activities in the country, The National reported.

* UAE-based ADS Investment Solutions plans to create an exchange-traded fund focusing solely on Saudi Arabian equities and is aiming to list it on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange in the next few weeks, Reuters reported. The ADS Securities LLC unit's ETF will track a new Saudi Arabia-focused index developed with index compiler FTSE Russell.

* The Mint Corp. subsidiary Mint Middle East LLC, which recently received preliminary regulatory approval to become a licensed insurance brokerage company in the UAE, has hired a senior insurance professional to establish an insurance brokerage business in the country.

* S&P Global Ratings affirmed UAE-based Orient Insurance PJSC's long-term issuer credit and insurer financial strength ratings at A, with a stable outlook.

* The board of Gulf Investment House KSCP proposed reducing the company's capital to roughly 6.1 million Kuwaiti dinars from 16.4 million dinars to help lower accumulative losses that exceed 10.7 million dinars. The board also recommended a subsequent capital increase to approximately 40.6 million dinars through the capitalization of debt amounting to 34.5 million dinars.

* Banque Attijari de Tunisie SA, a subsidiary of Morocco's Attijariwafa Bank SA, has received a €40 million loan from the International Finance Corp. to finance small and medium sized businesses and green economy projects, Financial Afrik wrote.

* Egypt is looking to raise as much as 18 billion Egyptian pounds by selling stakes in four to six state-owned firms this year, Reuters wrote.

* A majority of economists polled by Reuters expect the Central Bank of Egypt to keep the deposit and lending rates unchanged at 16.75% and 17.75%, respectively, at tomorrow's monetary policy committee meeting.

EAST AND WEST AFRICA

* Nigeria-based United Bank for Africa PLC signed an agreement with Onatel, a subsidiary of the Maroc Telecom group, to promote their mobile banking activities in Burkina Faso, Financial Afrik reported. Through the partnership, UBA will issue money electronically and Onatel will provide technical processing and distribution via its Mobicash platform.

* The Nairobi Securities Exchange is set to commence a pilot test of its derivatives market within the next six months, Business Daily Africa reported. The exchange said Stanbic Bank Kenya Ltd. and Co-operative Bank of Kenya Ltd., two of the six banks it enlisted as clearing houses for trade in derivatives, have been granted provisional approval by the Central Bank of Kenya to participate in the test launch.

CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN AFRICA

* Barclays Africa Group Ltd.'s shareholders approved changing the group's name to Absa Group Ltd., expected to take effect July 11, as part of its separation arrangement with British banking group Barclays PLC. The group, however, noted that its Barclays-branded banks in Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia will continue to trade as "Barclays" following the group's name change and will be rebranded at a later stage.

* Separately, Barclays Africa Group said David Hodnett has resigned as an executive director and deputy CEO of unit Absa Bank Ltd., effective immediately. Hodnett will participate in a handover between now and Aug. 31.

* Angola's Banco de Poupança e Crédito SA, which temporarily suspended lending last year as part of efforts to restructure the state-controlled bank, has announced a new credit line for small and medium-sized companies, Jornal de Angola reported.

IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD

Asia-Pacific: Société Générale eyes China securities JV; Indian bank removes CEO amid scandal

Europe: Allianz, Crédit Agricole post Q1 profits; SIX Group, Worldline in €2B deal

Latin America: BNDES, Banrisul post higher Q1 profits; 8 Brazilian banks face charges

North America: PHH faces 2nd suit against Ocwen deal; New S.C. bank raises $34M

North America Insurance: 271 individual LTC rate hikes OK'd in Q1; Travelers' cat bond may upsize

Deza Mones, Henni Abdelghani, Sophie Davies and Helen Popper contributed to this report.

The Daily Dose Middle East and Africa has an editorial deadline of 5 a.m. London time. Some external links may require a subscription. Links are current as of publication time, and we are not responsible if those links are unavailable later.

This S&P Global Market Intelligence news article may contain information about credit ratings issued by S&P Global Ratings, a separately managed division of S&P Global. Descriptions in this news article were not prepared by S&P Global Ratings.