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SSA news through May 31

* Senior central bank and government officials from 14 countries in eastern and southern Africa met in Zimbabwe to discuss the possible use of China's yuan as a regional reserve currency.

* Commercial Bank of Ethiopia plans to open a branch in South Africa by 2019, Addis Fortune wrote, citing the bank's president, Bekalu Zeleke.

EAST AFRICA

* Kenyan regulators will investigate 10 financial institutions for processing client transactions related to stolen funds from the National Youth Service, according to the country's Directorate of Criminal Investigations. Central Bank of Kenya Governor Patrick Njoroge said banks including KCB Group Plc and Standard Chartered Bank Kenya Ltd., showed carelessness in handling the transactions, with the theft estimated in the billions of shillings.

* Separately, Njoroge said a draft bill aimed at regulating the conduct of financial institutions in the country would "emasculate" the Central Bank of Kenya as it would limit the regulator's powers, Reuters reported. The Financial Markets Conduct bill, proposed by the country's finance ministry, seeks to establish a regulator in addition to the central bank to deal with banks' conduct.

* The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission placed former and current Central Bank of Kenya officials under investigation for their role in the accounting fraud that led to the collapse of Imperial Bank Ltd.

* Geoffrey Mwau, director general of budget, fiscal and economic affairs at Kenya's National Treasury, said the country aims to regulate digital lenders amid an increase in lending to people with and without bank accounts via Kenya's mobile money system, Reuters reported.

* Barclays Bank of Kenya Ltd.'s shareholders have approved changing the bank's name to Absa Bank Kenya PLC. The name change is still subject to regulatory approval.

* Kenya's National Treasury pumped 500 million shillings into state-owned Consolidated Bank of Kenya Ltd. to support the lender after a string of losses nearly wiped out its capital base, Standard Digital wrote.

* The Central Bank of Kenya maintained the central bank rate at 9.50%, noting that the nation's economy had not fully absorbed the rate cut implemented in March.

WEST AFRICA

* German insurer Allianz Group agreed to acquire an 8% stake in Nigeria-based African Reinsurance Corp. for a total cash consideration payable at closing of $81 million. The transaction makes Allianz one of the largest shareholders in Africa Re.

* Stanbic Africa Holdings Ltd., a wholly owned unit of South Africa's Standard Bank Group Ltd. and parent company of Nigeria's Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, acquired additional 1,141,191,943 shares in Stanbic IBTC Holdings in an off-market transaction, increasing its stake in the Nigerian firm to 64.44% from 53.09%.

* Central Bank of Nigeria Deputy Governor Adebayo Adelabu is stepping down, effective July 15, Premium Times noted.

* Raymond Amanfu, former head of banking supervision at the Bank of Ghana, denied reports that he was asked to report to the Economic and Organized Crime Office as part of investigations into the collapse of UT Bank Ghana Ltd. and Capital Bank Ltd., Citi Business News wrote.

* The Bank of Ghana has instructed banks that may not be able to meet the new 400 million cedis capital requirement by the 2018-end deadline to submit their merger plans, Citi Business News reported. Meanwhile, Bank of Ghana First Deputy Governor Maxwell Opoku-Afari said the regulator will introduce new cybersecurity regulations for banks in the next couple of weeks, Joy Online wrote.

* Guinean President Alpha Condé has fired Maladho Kaba as finance minister and replaced her with Mamady Camara, the country's former ambassador to South Africa, as part of a government reshuffle, Reuters reported. The move comes amid escalating political tensions and speculation that Condé may seek to change the country's constitution.

SOUTHERN AFRICA

* South Africa's ruling African National Congress said it will engage with investors and stakeholders over the proposed nationalization of the South African Reserve Bank before moving ahead with the plan, BusinessDay wrote. The statement comes after President Cyril Ramaphosa said he is committed to maintaining the independence of the central bank, Bloomberg News reported.

* South Africa's National Treasury has backed Daniel Matjila, CEO of state pension fund Public Investment Corp., dismissing reports that he could face suspension, Reuters wrote. Bloomberg News had earlier reported that he was under investigation over his role in several questionable investments made by the PIC.

* FirstRand Ltd.'s Ashburton Investments will launch a new debt-instrument investment fund that will invest in opportunities in South Africa as well as Botswana, Namibia and Zambia, Bloomberg News wrote, citing money manager Ashley Benatar.

* India's Bank of Baroda, which has links to the politically connected Gupta family, has given a formal notice of its intention to exit South Africa, fin24.com wrote, citing South African Reserve Bank Deputy Governor Kuben Naidoo.

* South African authorities have opened an investigation into an alleged bitcoin investment scam that defrauded investors of 1 billion rand, Reuters reported. The allegations involve a company named BTC Global.

* Prosecutors in Angola named Jean-Claude Bastos de Morais, head of Swiss asset manager Quantum Global, as a suspect in a criminal investigation, Reuters wrote, citing Jornal de Angola. It is unclear what the executive is being investigated for. Quantum Global, which was contracted by Angola's $5 billion sovereign wealth fund to invest money on its behalf, is accused by the fund of mismanagement.

* Mozambique's government has hiked the minimum capital requirement for insurance companies operating in the country to 97 million meticais from 33 million meticais previously, saying the measure would give the sector greater financial solidity and protect customers, Jornal Noticias reported. Insurance companies already operating in Mozambique will have three years to adapt to the new capital requirements.

* CBZ Holdings Ltd. named Blessing Mudavanhu its new group CEO, effective June 1. Mudavanhu replaces Never Nyemudzo, who has retired.

* The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and its governor, John Mangudya, were sued by local cryptocurrency exchange dealer Bitfinance (Pvt) Ltd., which is seeking to nullify the central bank's decision to ban all transactions in virtual currencies, the Zimbabwe Independent reported. The company, which trades as Golix, argued that the regulator has no jurisdiction to ban transactions in cryptocurrencies as they are not regulated by the central bank.

Helen Popper contributed to this report.