trending Market Intelligence /marketintelligence/en/news-insights/trending/mvkjBhnz2FXo9HpZ3L39Lw2 content esgSubNav
In This List

Tanzania fines 5 banks for anti-money laundering breach; Kenya holds rate

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


Tanzania fines 5 banks for anti-money laundering breach; Kenya holds rate

* A group of 130 global banks, including South Africa's FirstRand Ltd., have adopted the United Nations-backed Principles for Responsible Banking, which require companies to assess their impact on the environment and set targets to improve. The framework is designed to encourage banks to bring their strategies in line with the Paris Agreement on climate change.

GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL

* Qatar's royal family, the biggest shareholder in Deutsche Bank AG, has started sounding out potential candidates to replace Paul Achleitner as chairman of the German lender, insiders told Bloomberg News. Some members of the royal family are reportedly thinking of forcing Achleitner to step down before his term ends in 2022.

* Pressure is mounting on the United Arab Emirates' smaller lenders as they face tough competition from larger banks that have gained scale in the recent wave of mergers. But future consolidation will be driven by a different set of factors and could result in a broader set of cross-country or cross-emirate combinations, analysts told S&P Global Market Intelligence.

* Abu Dhabi issued $10 billion in three tranches of debt issuances, marking its first international offering in two years, a source told Bloomberg News. The first tranche was $3 billion due in five years, another $3 billion tranche due 2029 and a $4 billion tranche with a 30-year tenor.

* Capital Intelligence Ratings downgraded UAE-based Commercial Bank International PSC's long-term foreign-currency rating to BBB+ from A-, while adjusting the bank's short-term foreign-currency rating to A2 from A3. The outlook on the long-term rating was also revised to stable from negative. CI Ratings also assigned the lender a "bbb-" bank stand-alone rating, with a stable outlook, a "bb" core financial strength rating and a High extraordinary support level.

* CI Ratings affirmed the long- and short-term foreign-currency ratings of Invest Bank PSC at BBB-/A3, with the outlook on the long-term rating revised to stable from negative. The United Arab Emirates-based lender was also assigned a "bb-" bank stand-alone rating, with a stable outlook, a "b" core financial strength rating and a High extraordinary support level.

* Al Safwa Mubasher Financial Services PrJSC changed its name and trading symbol to BH Mubasher Financial Srevices PSC and BHMUBASHER, respectively. The company's first day of trading on the new symbol will take place Oct. 6.

* Kuwait International Bank KSCP Deputy Chairman and CEO Raed Jawad Boukhamsin said the lender is looking at a potential issuance of a $2 billion sukuk program, Al Rai reported.

* Inovest B.S.C. appointed Talal al-Mulla chief investment officer.

REST OF MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA

* Israel-based Pagaya Investments issued a $200 million consumer credit asset-backed security, bringing its total issuance of such security to $515 million, Reuters reported.

* Egypt's Financial Regulatory Authority on Sept. 18 approved Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank PJSC's application to be exempted from the requirement of making a mandatory tender offer to Union National Bank - Egypt (SAE)'s minority shareholders. The application was made after ADCB's merger with Union National Bank - PJSC and regulatory approval of its acquisition of the latter's shares in UNB Egypt.

EAST AND WEST AFRICA

* The Central Bank of Kenya maintained the central bank rate at 9.00%, with inflation expectations remaining well-anchored within the target range and the economy "operating close to its potential." This marks the seventh time in a row that the regulator held the benchmark rate, according to Reuters.

* Kenya-based Koolridge Insurance Brokers sold a 40% stake in the company to Olea Insurance Solutions, a France-based brokerage firm, for an undisclosed sum, according to Business Daily Africa. As part of the deal, Koolridge rebranded to Olea Kenya Insurance Brokers.

* Tanzania's central bank fined African Banking Corporation (Tanzania) Ltd., Equity Bank Tanzania Ltd., I&M Bank (T) Ltd., UBL Bank (Tanzania) Ltd. and Habib African Bank Ltd. a combined 1.88 billion shillings for violating anti-money laundering regulations when they failed to conduct proper due diligence and file suspicious transaction reports. The regulator gave the banks three months to implement various corrective measures, including taking disciplinary measures against all staff who were involved in opening implicated deposit accounts contrary to know-your-customer requirements.

* Nigeria's central bank and the Financial Reporting Council fined four commercial lenders in the first half due to compliance lapses, according to The Punch. Guaranty Trust Bank PLC was fined 10 million naira, United Bank for Africa PLC and Access Bank PLC were fined 8 million naira each and Fidelity Bank PLC was fined 4 million naira.

* Togo-based Ecobank Transnational Inc. named ex-Microsoft director Aissatou Djiba Diallo senior fintech adviser as part of efforts to strategically raise bank's support for the financial technology sector. Djiba Diallo was previously head of innovations at Microsoft4Afrika.

CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN AFRICA

* The Banking Association South Africa urged customers to switch to digital transactions as the industry prepares for possibly the biggest strike in 99 years. The body told Bloomberg News that although banks will operate normally, necessary precautions should still be taken to avoid disruption. The South African Society of Bank Officials and the Congress of South African Trade Unions plan to hold protests Sept. 27, mainly directed at banks that have consulted employees over the past few months regarding job cuts.

* South Africa issued $5 billion in eurobonds, its first eurobond debt issue since May 2018, a source told Bloomberg News. The bonds were issued in two series, the first one being a 10-year issue with a 4.85% yield, while the second series matures in 30 years and yields 5.75%.

* A South African court yesterday deferred its decision in a contempt of court case between Old Mutual Ltd. and its fired CEO, Peter Moyo, Reuters reported. The judge reportedly outlined the steps both parties should take before a ruling is made. Meanwhile, Eric Mabuza, Moyo's lawyer, told Business Day that he was confident that the insurer's board could be imprisoned over the matter.

* Angola has authorized the banking sector to concede loans for the exports of coffee, wood, tubers and tropical fruits. Angolan central bank Governor José de Lima Massano said the decision aims to increase and diversify national production exports, as well as contributing to the sustainability of Angola's international reserves, Macauhub reported.

IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD

Asia-Pacific: Chinese bank gets Hong Kong IPO approval; Japan mulls further easing in October

Europe: Commerzbank job cuts; Deutsche, BNP ink equities deal; UniCredit names chairman

Latin America: Banco do Brasil share offering expected in October; SoftBank in Brazil

North America: Citi only big US bank to commit to UN climate principles; IEX exits listings biz

Global Insurance: Dual storms; OneConnect IPO; PG&E insurance deal; Travelers portfolio transfer

Erin Tanchico, Henni Abdelghani, Sophie Davies and Mariana Aldano 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. Descriptions in this news article were not prepared by S&P Global Ratings.