EAST AFRICA
* A female employee at National Bank of Kenya Ltd. has accused CEO Wilfred Musau of sexual assault and harassment and filed a complaint at the Employment and Labour Relations Court, Business Daily Africa reported.
* U.K.-based Stanbic Africa Holdings Ltd. proposed to acquire up to an additional 59 million ordinary shares in Kenya-based Stanbic Holdings Plc, Reuters wrote.
* Tanzanian President John Magufuli ordered the country's central bank not to rescue any struggling lenders even though they have suffered from a rise in nonperforming loans over the last two years, Reuters reported.
* Bernard Kibesse, deputy governor for financial stability and deepening at the Bank of Tanzania, said the central bank failed to adopt the new interest rate-based monetary policy this month as it has not yet received board approval, Tanzania's Daily News reported.
* Moody's expects Tanzania's banking system to remain resilient despite asset quality and profitability pressure, noting improving operating conditions and solid capital and liquidity in the sector.
* South Sudanese President Salva Kiir has dismissed Finance Minister Stephen Dhieu Dau, without giving any reason for the move, Reuters reported. Salvatore Garang Mabiordit was appointed to succeed Dau.
WEST AFRICA
* Standard Chartered PLC is opening its first online-only retail bank in Cote d'Ivoire, where it will test the waters prior to a global launch, the Financial Times reported.
* Energy Bank Ghana Ltd. intends to raise about 330 million cedi via an IPO on the Ghana Stock Exchange, Bloomberg News reported.
* Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Godwin Emefiele told CNBC that the regulator will delay its next monetary policy committee meeting, initially set for March 19 and 20, until the first week of April at the latest, Reuters reported.
* Zenith Bank Plc reported consolidated group profit attributable to equity holders of the parent of 177.61 billion Nigerian naira for the year ended Dec. 31, 2017, up from 129.43 billion naira a year earlier.
* The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corp. will open a probe into a number of commercial banks over suspicions of fraud, Premium Times wrote.
* The National Insurance Commission in Nigeria seized control of Unic Insurance PLC after the company failed to pay claims to policyholders, Business Post Nigeria reported.
* Mamadou Igor Diarra stepped down from Bank of Africa Senegal, where he has served as head for two years, Financial Afrik reported.
* Oragroup SA received €40 million in funding from the Islamic Development Co., to be used in extending Islamic finance to small businesses, Financial Afrik said.
SOUTHERN AFRICA
* Anglo-South African financial group Old Mutual Plc reported consolidated full-year 2017 IFRS profit after tax attributable to equity holders of the parent of £909 million, up 59% from a restated year-ago profit of £570 million. CEO Bruce Hemphill told analysts that the group remained on course for the "material" completion of its breakup into four separate businesses.
* South Africa's "Big 4" banks — Standard Bank Group Ltd., Nedbank Group Ltd., Barclays Africa Group Ltd. and FirstRand Ltd. — have posted a "solid set of results" but should find a balance between managing costs and investing in digitalization as competition heats up, according to audit and advisory firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, fin24 wrote.
* FirstRand unit FirstRand International Ltd. has completed the acquisition of U.K.-based Aldermore Group Plc.
* India's Bank of Baroda is still facing a criminal complaint in South Africa even as it was absolved by a local court of being in possession of "proceeds of crime," or illegally acquired money or assets, The Economic Times reported.
* Meanwhile, the High Court in Pretoria, South Africa, has dismissed an application brought by 19 companies linked to the controversial Gupta family to prevent Bank of Baroda from shutting down its South African operations, Eyewitness News reported.
* The African Export-Import Bank signed a memorandum of understanding with the Export Credit Insurance Corp. of South Africa to launch a $1 billion financing program to promote and expand trade and investments between South Africa and other African countries.
* The South African central bank placed VBS Mutual Bank into administration, as it battles "increasing liquidity challenges," according to central bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago.
* Everglen Capital (Pty) Ltd. trimmed its stake in South African firm to Transaction Capital Ltd.
* Former Angolan central bank Governor Valter Filipe da Silva was charged by the country's prosecutors' office in relation to an alleged fraud against the government, in which $500 million was attempted to be transferred in 2017 from the central bank to an account in the U.K., according to Reuters.
* Angolan President João Lourenço authorized a special issue of public debt of more than €685 million for the recapitalization of state-owned Banco de Poupança e Crédito SA, the largest bank in the country, Jornal de Negócios reported.
* The Angolan government will issue 50 billion kwanzas, or roughly $233 million, in treasury bonds to finance state-owned company Recredit — created to manage nonperforming assets in public financial institutions — as a way to support the recovery of the national banking system, Macauhub said.
* Mauritian Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth described President Ameenah Gurib-Fakim's decision not to resign from her post as "deplorable and unworthy," Reuters reported.
CENTRAL AFRICA
* United Bank for Africa Cameroon SA received permission from the Bank of Central African States to begin issuing mobile money, which it will do in partnership with mobile operator Viettel Cameroon, Financial Afrik said.
* The African Development Bank handed a $15 million loan to Rawbank SA, which has a 24% market share in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Financial Afrik said.
Pádraig Belton and Mariana Aldano contributed to this report.
