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Deutsche Bank to cut South Africa ops; 2 Omani banks to weigh potential merger

* Muneer Ismail, head of Deutsche Bank AG's South African unit, said the German lender plans to scale back its advisory and equities business in South Africa as part of a wider review of its global businesses, Times Live wrote. Insiders told Bloomberg News that the German bank has already started reducing its operations in central Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Deutsche Bank is also said to be considering making nearly 10,000 job cuts in a bid to fast-track cost cutting.

* Bank Leumi le-Israel BM closed its sale of a 15% stake in Bank Leumi Le-Israel Corp., the U.S. bank holding company of Bank Leumi USA, to Endicott Management Co. and MSD Capital LP. The sale carried a transaction value of about $141 million.

* Executives at U.S.-based TPG Capital Management LP are in talks with investors in Abraaj Group Ltd. to take over the management of the United Arab Emirates-based private equity firm's $1 billion healthcare fund, The Wall Street Journal reported. Abraaj is not involved in the negotiations. TPG would potentially manage Abraaj's healthcare fund through The Rise Fund.

* South Korea pledged $5 billion in new African investment in 2019 and 2020 at a meeting of the Korea-Africa Economic Cooperation Conference, Jeune Afrique reported. Agence Ecofin also covers.

MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA

* Alizz Islamic Bank SAOG has agreed with Oman International Development & Investment Co. SAOG unit Oman Arab Bank SAOC to explore the possibility of a strategic collaboration that could lead to an eventual merger of the two Omani lenders.

* Fitch Ratings affirmed the long-term issuer default ratings of Bank Dhofar SAOG, Bank Sohar SAOG and Ahli Bank SAOG at BB+, while those of Bank Muscat SAOG and HSBC Bank Oman SAOG were affirmed at BBB- and BBB, respectively. The outlooks on all five Omani lenders are negative.

* Moody's affirmed various ratings of Emirates NBD Bank PJSC and DenizBank AS, including their long- and short-term foreign-currency deposit ratings at A3/Prime-2 and Ba3/NP, respectively, following the announcement of Emirates NBD's acquisition of the Turkish lender. The outlooks on the banks' long-term deposit ratings were maintained at stable and negative, respectively.

* UAE-based National Bank of Ras Al Khaimah PSC, or Rakbank, appointed Jean Pierre Le Roux as managing director of financial institutions group and international, Global Trade Review reported.

* The IMF has called on Saudi Arabia to reduce government spending to achieve the country's fiscal targets.

* Moody's upgraded the investment manager quality assessment of Saudi Arabia-based Jadwa Asset Management to MQ1.

* Despite its opposition to deposit insurance, Israel's Finance Ministry has reportedly reached a compromise with the Bank of Israel that it would provide deposit insurance solution as a starting benefit for new digital banks established in the country, according to Globes.

* The Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs criticized the U.S. for imposing sanctions on Central Bank of Iran Governor Valiollah Seif, saying the move is a sign of its "blatant defiance of well-established international norms and rules including immunity of governments and central banks."

* Capital Intelligence Ratings affirmed Iran-based Parsian Insurance Co.'s BB-/B long- and short-term insurer financial strength ratings, with a stable outlook.

EAST AND WEST AFRICA

* SBM Holdings Ltd. Chairman Kee Chong Li Kwong Wing said the Mauritius-based lender, which acquired Fidelity Commercial Bank — now known as SBM Bank (Kenya) Ltd. and Chase Bank (Kenya) Ltd. in 2017, expects its combined Kenyan operations to be profitable in the first full year of operations, Bloomberg News reported.

* Barclays Bank of Kenya Ltd.'s board will today seek shareholder approval for the appointment of KPMG Kenya as an external auditor after South Africa-based parent Barclays Africa Group Ltd. cut ties with KPMG's South African unit as one of its two external auditors, Business Daily Africa reported. Shareholders will also be asked to approve Barclays Bank of Kenya's name change to Absa Group Ltd., subject to regulatory approval, as part of the group's rebranding.

* Bank of Ghana Governor Ernest Addison said local banks that are likely to miss the central bank's Dec. 31 deadline to meet the new 400 million Ghanaian cedi minimum capital requirement will be declared by July, Joy Business reported.

* The IMF's Executive Board completed the eighth and ninth reviews under the extended credit facility arrangement for Mali, enabling the disbursement of approximately $89.7 million to the country. This brings total disbursements under the current arrangement to about $219.7 million.

* Côte d'Ivoire's proposed state investment arm Caisse des dépôts et consignations has obtained approval from a parliamentary committee and now awaits assembly approval, Financial Afrik reported. Finance Minister Adama Koné said the entity would reach profits in its third year and generate 812 billion CFA francs in its first eight years.

CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN AFRICA

* Standard Bank Group Ltd. said its transitional and fully loaded common equity Tier 1 capital adequacy ratio, including unappropriated profit, was 12.6% and 12.3%, respectively, as of March 31.

* Capitec Bank Holdings Ltd. said it is currently working through a detailed response to Viceroy Research's recently published open letter to the South African lender's audit committee, accusing the bank of continuing to mislead investors and having "deteriorating business conditions" in its latest year-end results, Fin24 wrote.

* The IMF approved the assessment of Angola's economic performance in 2017, with numbers pointing to a trend of economic growth and inflation retraction in the country. Economy growth projection has been set at 2.2% for 2018 and 2.5% in 2019, Jornal de Angola said.

IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD

Asia-Pacific: US regulator fines ICBC; SeaBank M&A gets nod; CBA taps Citi for unit stake sale

Europe: Barclays said to be mulling StanChart merger; Julius Bär AUM passes CHF400B

Latin America: Tanner looks to become Chile's largest fintech; Argentina holds key rate

North America: Independent Bank buying Guaranty for $1B; Far Point Acquisition to raise $400M

North America Insurance: US uninsured rate flat; The Hartford in play for Aspen; Icahn gets support

Sheryl Obejera, Henni Abdelghani, Pádraig Belton and Mariana Aldano contributed to this report.

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