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SSA news through May 24

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SSA news through May 24

EAST AFRICA

* Kenya's National Treasury retained the country's controversial interest rate cap despite National Treasury Secretary Henry Rotich calling the caps "unsustainable" and pledging to repeal or reform them in a draft financial markets conduct bill published May 24. A source told Reuters that the Kenyan government had recognized that repealing the cap would prove to be difficult due to opposition from lawmakers who had proposed it.

* Co-operative Bank of Kenya Ltd. reported first-quarter profit after tax of 3.4 billion shillings, up from 3.2 billion shillings in the year-ago period. Meanwhile, Diamond Trust Bank Kenya Ltd. reported first-quarter group profit after tax and exceptional items of 1.80 billion shillings, up from 1.75 billion shillings in the same period in 2017.

* Pan-African private equity company AfricInvest completed the acquisition of a 14.3% stake in Kenya-based financial services group Britam Holdings Plc.

* Standard Chartered Bank Kenya Ltd. said it let go of 285 employees in 2017, bringing down its staff number to 1,587 at the end of the year at a cost of 173.1 million Kenyan shillings, according to Business Daily Africa.

* Rwanda's Bank of Kigali Ltd. is planning a cross-listing on Kenya's Nairobi Securities Exchange in the second half of 2018. Chairman Marc Holtzman said the bank, already listed at home, would look to raise $60 million to $70 million via the Nairobi listing and domestically.

* Burundians have voted in favor of constitutional amendments that would extend presidential terms to seven years from five, allowing President Pierre Nkurunziza to extend his 13-year term until 2034, Reuters reported. A president is currently limited to two terms, Independent Online noted.

WEST AFRICA

* The Bank of Ghana lowered its monetary policy rate by 100 basis points to 17%. Meanwhile, insiders told Bloomberg News that the regulator is facilitating discussions between banks and investors as part of efforts to drive consolidation and boost the country's banking industry.

* Meanwhile, 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.

* Insurance company Hollard Ghana Holdings Ltd. appointed Patience Akyianu CEO, effective in October. Akyianu currently serves as managing director of Barclays Bank of Ghana Ltd.

* The Central Bank of Nigeria kept its monetary policy rate at 14.0%, the cash reserve ratio at 22.5%, the liquidity ratio at 30.0% and the asymmetric corridor at positive 200 basis points and negative 500 basis points around the monetary policy rate.

* Nigeria's Securities and Exchange Commission said its investigation into the $1 billion investment in Unity Bank PLC by U.S.-based private equity firm Milost Global Inc. is still ongoing, Premium Times wrote. Milost Global ended talks with the lender in March, saying it had been threatened with being run out of Nigeria if it went ahead with the deal.

* Egypt-based investment bank Beltone Financial Holding SAE is considering acquiring a significant stake in Togo-based African banking group Oragroup SA.

* Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire and Mali launched a common economic zone, spanning three neighboring cities and expanding on an earlier bilateral relationship between Burkina Faso and Côte d'Ivoire, Jeune Afrique said.

SOUTHERN AFRICA

* The South African Reserve Bank kept its repurchase rate unchanged at 6.5% per annum, saying risks to inflation outlook have titled to the upside.

* South African President Cyril Ramaphosa stressed his commitment to maintaining the independence of the country's central bank, as the government weighs options to nationalize the regulator, Bloomberg News reported. Ramaphosa also said he is keen on getting global pension funds to invest in the country.

* 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.

* South Africa-based Lebashe Financial Services said it will boost its stake in RainFin (Pty) Ltd., a peer-to-peer lender previously backed by Barclays PLC, by 24% to 75% for an undisclosed amount, Bloomberg News wrote.

* 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, Sunday Times (South Africa) wrote.

* South Africa's National Treasury made a request to the country's chief justice to instruct the South Africa Social Security Agency to release funds to Net 1 UEPS Technologies Inc. unit Cash Paymaster Services under conditions proposed by the government, Bloomberg News reported. The request comes after CPS said it would suffer losses and struggle to continue its operations amid a row over fees.

* The South African Reserve Bank prefers to call digital currencies as "cyber-tokens" as they fall short of the requirements to be classified as money and a stable unit of value, Bloomberg News wrote, citing Deputy Governor François Groepe.

* Angola's central bank maintained its benchmark interest rate at 18%, Reuters noted. The Banco Nacional de Angola also decided to reduce banks' mandatory reserves in the kwanza to 19% from 21%, Angola Press said.

* 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.

* Zambia's state-owned mining vehicle ZCCM Investments Holdings PLC has increased its stake in Investrust Bank Plc to 71.4% from 45.4%. At the close of the mandatory offer to Investrust minority shareholders, a total of 2,125,890 shares, representing 26.0% of the total shareholding in the bank, were tendered for sale to ZCCM Investments Holdings.

* Zimbabwe's central bank has banned local banks from using cryptocurrencies, and asked financial institutions to remove all existing cryptocurrency accounts within 60 days, Financial Afrik said.

Pádraig Belton and Mariana Aldano contributed to this report.