* Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said his country aims to boost private sector investment in Africa by offering enhanced trade insurance, Reuters wrote.
* S&P Global Ratings said it believes convergence capital, or funds from nontraditional, third-party sources, will continue to play a key role in the competitive dynamics of the global reinsurance market and bolster capacity, even though the amount of such capital being provided to reinsurers globally fell for the first time in 10 years.
* Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said the world's central banks might need to jointly create a replacement reserve currency in place of the U.S. dollar, warning that the currency has had a destabilizing role in the world economy, Reuters wrote.
EAST AFRICA
* Kenyan bank Equity Group Holdings PLC is reviewing its financial technology subsidiary, Finserve Africa Ltd., and is looking at whether to keep it as a separate business or run it as a division following the departure of the unit's executive director of strategic execution, Eric Karobia, insiders told Bloomberg News. Earlier this week, Karobia joined Airtel Africa PLC's Ugandan unit as director of Airtel Money.
* Justice Weldon Korir of Nairobi's High Court dismissed a case challenging KCB Group PLC's takeover of National Bank of Kenya Ltd., saying there was no evidence that proper processes were not followed, Standard Digital reported.
* Tanzania's central bank fined National Bank of Commerce Ltd. 1 billion Tanzanian shillings for failing to set up either a primary or secondary data center in the country. The bank will be fined an additional 10% of the amount for every month that it does not comply with the directive.
* The Bank of Tanzania has ordered banks and financial institutions to set up data centers within the country and gave them three months to do so, warning that firms that fail to comply will be fined 5 billion Tanzanian shillings, Reuters reported, citing a spokesperson for the central bank.
WEST AFRICA
* Nigeria-based TrustBond Mortgage Bank Plc and First Mortgages Ltd. have agreed to merge, with the new entity to be named FirstTrust Mortgage Bank PLC, The Punch wrote.
* The IMF's executive board approved a new three-year arrangement under its extended credit facility for Mali for a loan of roughly $191.9 million, as well as the first disbursement under the arrangement of about $27.4 million.
* The Ghanaian government has set aside roughly 1.2 billion cedi in provisions to protect depositors of savings and loans firms whose licenses were revoked amid the Bank of Ghana's recent cleanup of the sector, Citi Business News reported.
* Nigeria's central bank, the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System and the Bankers' Committee will launch an initiative that will allow banks to recover loans from defaulters' deposit accounts from any local bank or financial institution, Business Post Nigeria reported, citing central bank Deputy Governor Aishah Ahmad.
* Babatunde Fowler, chairman of Nigeria's Federal Inland Revenue Service, said Nigerian banks will begin charging value added tax on local and foreign online transactions from January 2020, The Punch reported.
SOUTHERN AFRICA
* Andrew Birrell, Elias Masilela and Kobus Möller were appointed independent nonexecutive directors to the boards of South African insurer Sanlam Ltd. and unit Sanlam Life Insurance Ltd., while Jeanett Modise was named an executive director to both boards.
* Botswana's central bank reduced its bank rate by 25 basis points to 4.75% from 5%, saying inflation increased month-over-month but remained below its target range.
* Mozambique's central bank banned Paulo Alexandre Duarte de Sousa, vice chairman and chairman of the executive board at Banco Comercial e de Investimentos SA, from working in any social or management positions in credit and financial institutions for three years, O País wrote. He is accused of conflict of interests during the decision process of evaluating the acquisition proposal of Interbancos SA by the Sociedade Interbancária de Moçambique. He could not be involved in negotiations as he was not a shareholder or manager of the companies. He will also have to pay a fine of 200,000 meticais.
* Two South African entrepreneurs have issued a court summons against Nedbank Ltd. for allegedly stealing their invention that allows users to block financial transaction cards and checks, according to Business Report.
* The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange and the Botswana Stock Exchange will sign a memorandum of understanding as the basis for cooperation aimed at boosting their financial markets and promoting cross-border investments and listings, according to a joint statement by the bourses.
* South African state-owned asset manager Public Investment Corp. (SOC) Ltd. is seeking an executive search provider to find a suitable candidate to be the company's next CEO. The role has remained vacant since Dan Matjila stepped down in November 2018 following allegations of corruption, Moneyweb noted.
* Angola managed to reduce by $400 million its debt to China in the first quarter, Macauhub wrote. Angola's bilateral public debt was $7.6 billion in 2012, peaked at $23.2 billion at the end of 2017 and is now on a downward trajectory, with a 1.7% fall over the 15-month period.
CENTRAL AFRICA
* A World Bank mission visited Central Africa to explore how the international financial institution might assist in the setting up of a Central African financial market, involving the merger of the region's stock exchanges, according to Financial Afrik.
* The 52 commercial banks in the Central African economic zone have made fewer calls for liquidity on the region's central bank, 175.6 billion CFA francs in May 2019, down from 327.3 billion CFA francs in June 2018, according to Financial Afrik.
Erin Tanchico, Pádraig Belton and Mariana Aldano contributed to this report.
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.
