* The European Union is poised to remove Bahrain, the Marshall Islands and Saint Lucia from its blacklist of tax havens next week, cutting the number of jurisdictions in the list to six from the initial 17, Reuters reported, citing an EU document. The decision will see American Samoa, Guam, Namibia, Palau, Samoa and Trinidad and Tobago remain on the list.
MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA
* Bank Leumi le-Israel BM
* Meanwhile, First International Bank of Israel Ltd.
* The Warsaw stock exchange submitted a nonbinding offer with Polish development fund PFR to acquire a 71.7% stake in Tel - Aviv Stock Exchange Ltd.
* Moody's assigned Israeli Credit Insurance Co. Ltd. an insurance financial strength rating of A3. The outlook for the company is stable.
* The IMF said the direct economic and financial impact for Qatar resulting from its diplomatic rift with some neighboring Arab states is fading, noting that Qatar's banking sector has adjusted to a new funding model following a wave of deposit outflows resulting from the dispute. Meanwhile, Mohamed Damak, global head of Islamic finance at S&P Global Ratings, said the ongoing standoff remains the biggest geopolitical risk facing banks in the Gulf Cooperation Council area this year, followed by political instability in Iran and Saudi Arabia.
* Commercial Bank PSQC
* United Cooperative Assurance Co. received regulatory approval to extend interim CEO Faker Rais' term by 90 days. In December 2017, the Saudi Arabian insurer appointed Rais as interim CEO for 60 days.
* A number of banks in the United Arab Emirates have banned online trading transactions in cryptocurrencies, Khaleej Times reported. Trading deals through licensed brokerage firms involved with foreign markets or mutual funds, meanwhile, are still allowed.
* Arabia Falcon Insurance Co. yesterday opened subscriptions for its IPO of 25 million shares at a price of 190 Omani baiza per share, the Times of Oman wrote. The subscription period will close April 2.
* U.S.-listed health insurance firm Cigna Corp. expects to boost revenues from the Middle East by about 30% per year until 2020 following its acquisition of Zurich Insurance Group AG's Lebanon-based unit Zurich Insurance Middle East SAL, The National reported, citing Jason Sadler, president of international markets at Cigna.
* State-run lenders National Bank of Egypt SAE, Banque Misr SAE, Banque du Caire SAE, and the Agricultural Bank of Egypt have issued so-called Aman certificates, a type of life insurance plan for seasonal and temporary workers and farmers, Daily News Egypt wrote. The sale of the Aman certificates is in response to President Abdel-Fatah al-Sisi's orders to provide informal workers with social insurance, Egypt Today noted.
* Mohamed Fahmi, EFG-Hermes Holding SAE's
* The board of Egyptian Gulf Bank (SAE)
* Egyptian Exchange Chairman Mohamed Farid told Bloomberg Television that he expects to see up to seven IPOs in 2018, potentially marking the highest number of listings on the stock exchange in a year since 2011.
* Banque Centrale Populaire reported full-year 2017 net income group share of 2.84 billion Moroccan dirhams, up 7.5% from the year-ago 2.64 billion dirhams.
* The European Investment Bank granted Attijariwafa Bank SA a €100 million credit line to boost lending to Moroccan small and medium-sized enterprises and midcaps.
* Société d'Assurances Multirisques Ittihad AMI decided to increase its capital by 70 million Tunisian dinars after regulators found a 40 million dinar insufficiency in its technical reserves, according to Il Boursa.
EAST AND WEST AFRICA
* Sierra Leone will today hold presidential elections in which an unprecedented number of candidates are vying to replace outgoing President Ernest Bai Koroma, who has served his maximum two terms, Reuters and Bloomberg News wrote. In total, 16 parties have put forward presidential candidates, four of which are seen as having a realistic chance of succeeding Koroma.
* Moody's affirmed the B1/Not Prime long- and short-term local-currency deposit ratings and B2/Not Prime foreign-currency deposit ratings of Tanzanian lenders CRDB Bank Plc and NMB Bank Plc and revised the outlook on the long-term ratings to negative from stable, among other actions.
* Kenya's National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich published new rules that give the Insurance Regulatory Authority powers to supervise banks offering insurance services, The East African reported.
* HFC, the banking and property finance unit of HF Group Ltd., secured a 1.5 billion Kenyan shilling funding facility with the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa
CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN AFRICA
* South Africa's ruling African National Congress said it intends to "press on" with a draft legislation for the proposed nationalization of the South African Reserve Bank, after postponing a parliamentary debate on the matter scheduled to take place yesterday, Reuters reported.
* FirstRand Ltd.
* Standard Bank Group Ltd. dismissed reports that it had agreed to open bank accounts for firms linked to the Gupta family, sayings its decision to terminate all dealings with the controversial family and companies connected to them still stands, South Africa's Business Day reported.
* The Banco Nacional de Angola started selling dollars to banks again this year, after only selling euros in 2017, Macauhub wrote.
IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD
Asia-Pacific: China to cut banks' provision ratio; Aussie bank begins talks for NZ unit sale
Europe: UK fines, bans Deutsche Bank ex-trader; Bank of Ireland COO to leave
Latin America: Brazil's Banco Original sees ownership rejig; Peru's La Positiva to sell stake
North America: JPMorgan, Capital One seek Amazon partnership; 2 New York-based banks merging
North America Insurance: Arkansas gets Medicaid work approval; ILS options for NFIP reinsurance placement
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.
