* The Council of the European Union removed Bahrain, the Marshall Islands and Saint Lucia from its blacklist of tax havens after they made commitments at a high political level to remedy the EU's concerns on taxation, and added three more jurisdictions. Nine jurisdictions, including Namibia, remain on the list.
* Polish debt collector GetBack SA said it has decided to start negotiations with Israeli firms Shavit Capital Fund and Cukierman & Co. Investment House Ltd., and U.S.-based Leumi Investment Services Inc., a unit of Israeli lender Bank Leumi le-Israel BM, regarding the acquisition of new GetBack shares. It came after the potential investors expressed initial interest on the Polish firm's share issuance.
MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA
* Moody's said the outlook for Saudi Arabia's banking system is stable, noting that it expects the nation's economy to return to growth this year, bolstered by higher public spending and other stimulus. The agency also said that the outlook for Kuwait's banking system is stable, as it expects the credit standing of the country's banks to be supported by steady non-oil economic growth and solid financial fundamentals over the next 12 to 18 months.
* UAE Banks Federation Chairman Abdul Aziz al-Ghurair said profits of banks in the country are expected to grow between 8% to 10% in 2018, Argaam reported. He also expects loans to decline amid new central bank regulations.
* The United Arab Emirates, through its Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, provided $1.4 billion to the Central Bank of Sudan to help boost the African country's foreign exchange reserves, Reuters wrote, citing the Sudan News Agency.
* Saudi Arabia's Capital Market Authority has approved the public offering of Arbah GCC Diversified Trade Fund, requested by Arbah Capital Co.
* Capital Intelligence Ratings assigned first-time ratings to Sudan-based United Capital Bank, including long- and short-term foreign currency ratings of C+/C, a financial strength rating of B, and national long- and short-term ratings of suBBB-/suA3. All ratings carry a negative outlook.
* Al Khaleej Takaful Insurance Co. QPSC's board of directors recommended the distribution of cash dividend of 5% of the nominal share value, or 0.50 dirham per share, for the financial year ended Dec. 31, 2017, but the company said it will not pay dividend to comply with an order from Qatar's central bank to recognize a provision for impairment.
* The board of Oman-based Bank Sohar SAOG will seek approval to increase the bank's authorized capital to 400 million Omani rials from 200 million rials at a March 29 extraordinary general meeting.
* Oman-based The Financial Corp. Company SAOG appointed Mohamed Darwish Al Khoori and Said Ahmed Safrar chairman and deputy chairman of its board, respectively.
* Moody's affirmed Bank Audi SAL's B3 long-term deposit ratings and A3.lb/LB-2 long- and short term national scale ratings, with stable outlooks, among other affirmations.
EAST AND WEST AFRICA
* Equity Group Holdings Plc Managing Director James Mwangi has been appointed as an economic adviser to the economic advisory council of the International Finance Council, the World Bank's financial wing, Financial Afrik said.
* A female employee at National Bank of Kenya Ltd. has accused CEO Wilfred Musau of sexual assault and harassment and filed a complaint at the Employment and Labour Relations Court, Business Daily Africa reported.
* South Sudanese President Salva Kiir has dismissed Finance Minister Stephen Dhieu Dau without giving any reason for the move, Reuters reported. Salvatore Garang Mabiordit was appointed to succeed Dau.
* Nigeria's Senate intends to start screening new members of the central bank's monetary policy committee after a disagreement with President Muhammadu Buhari over nominees that prompted the central bank to cancel a monetary policy committee meeting in January and maintain rates at 14% due to a lack of quorum, Reuters reported. The committee is set to meet and decide on rates next week.
* Julius Maada Bio of the Sierra Leone People's Party and Samura Kamara of the ruling All People's Congress are set to face each other in a presidential election runoff vote March 27, after both candidates failed to secure a majority in the first round on March 7, Reuters reported. According to Sierra Leone's electoral commission, Bio had 43.3% of votes while Kamara got 42.7%, against the required 55% for an outright win, Bloomberg News noted.
CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN AFRICA
* The Angolan government will issue 50 billion kwanzas, or roughly $233 million, in treasury bonds to finance state-owned company Recredit — created to manage nonperforming assets in public financial institutions — as a way to support the recovery of the national banking system, Macauhub said.
* Banks operating in Angola will have to offer until next month a set of seven free-of-charge services, defined as minimum banking services requirement by the country's central bank, Macauhub reported.
* The South African Reserve Bank has established a foreign exchange committee to promote a "fair and more transparent" forex market as well as adherence to international best practice.
* Tshepiso Moahloli, chief director of liability management at South Africa's National Treasury, said his country plans to tap international bond markets for as much as $3 billion "shortly" to take advantage of "conducive" market conditions, Bloomberg News wrote.
IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD
Asia-Pacific: ICBC NY branch faces regulatory action; Chinese wealth fund exits Blackstone
Europe: ING scraps CEO pay rise plan; Monte dei Paschi names CFO
Latin America: Davivienda's Q4 profit tumbles; Cade expected to OK Itaú-XP deal
North America: BofA CEO paid 250x more than median worker; Warburg Pincus in $370M Vietnam deal
North America Insurance: Conservative groups oppose ACA bailouts; GEICO changes way it sets NY premiums
Sheryl Obejera, Henni Abdelghani, Pádraig Belton and Mariana Aldano contributed to this report.
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