Ecobank Ghana has partnered with Ghana Post to use some of its offices as agency versions of the bank, allowing customers to carry out banking transactions, as if they were in any branch. 78 Ghana Post offices have been selected for the program so far, with an additional 22 expected to be added soon. Ecobank Ghana has provided GH¢1m ($169,000) as working capital to Ghana Post to begin the programme. This partnership is aimed at deepening banking penetration and promoting financial inclusion.
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Ethiopia: KCB shortlisting possible takeover candidates
Kenyan lender KCB Group is considering purchasing shares from one of Ethiopia’s commercial banks rather than opening a branch or subsidiary. The bank already has a representative office in Addis Ababa and has been shortlisting banks based on their technological progress. The bank has acquired banks across East Africa in recent years, including Bank Populaire du Rwanda and Trust Merchant Bank. KCB Group reported a 19.5% increase in profit after tax from 2021 to 2022, reaching KSH40.8bn ($308m).
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Nigeria: First Bank changes the names of its subsidiaries
First Bank of Nigeria has begun a phased corporate name change for its subsidiaries in the UK and Sub-Saharan Africa. FBNBank UK, FBNBank Sierra Leone, FBNBank Gambia and FBNBank DRC are the first to align with the parent brand and will now be known as FirstBank UK, FirstBank Sierra Leone, FirstBank Gambia and FirstBank DRC. Ghana, Senegal and Guinea will follow in a phased implementation. The name change is intended to enhance quality-of-service delivery, achieve better brand clarity and consistency, and strengthen cross-border business opportunities.
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Kenya: Applications open for central bank governor, deputy
Kenya has opened applications for the positions of central bank governor and deputy governor, with the tenures of the current governor and one deputy ending in June. Interested candidates have until April 19 to apply, and the positions serve four-year terms, which can be renewed once.
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Nigeria: Banks make provisions for impaired Ghana bonds
Zenith Bank, Nigeria’s biggest lender, has set aside NGN 123.4bn ($267m) in part to account for its holdings of bonds in Ghana, following the country’s debt restructuring which resulted in significant impairments. Zenith is the first Nigerian bank to announce provisions, and four of Africa’s biggest lenders have collectively set aside ZAR 4.87bn ($267m) to account for the losses from Ghana’s debt restructuring.
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Zimbabwe: Gov’t borrows $193m from Standard Bank, Absa Group to expand health sector
Zimbabwe has secured a $193.3m loan from Standard Bank and Absa Group to fund public hospitals and clinics, according to Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube. The money will be used to construct five district hospitals and 22 health centres across the country’s 10 provinces, starting in June and running for three years. Zimbabwe’s debt crisis means it owes creditors more than $13bn, but has resumed repayments to help restore access to credit.
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Nigeria: Zenith Bank gross earnings rise by 24%
Zenith Bank’s gross earnings rose by 24% to USD2.06 billion in 2022, driven by a growth in interest income and non-interest income. The bank plans to expand its business in 2023 by reorganizing into a holding company structure and adding new verticals to its business. The proposed final dividend payout is USD0.63 per share, bringing the total dividend to USD0.70 per share. Zenith Bank has received multiple awards, including Best Bank in Nigeria, Best Commercial Bank in Nigeria, and Bank of the Year in Nigeria.
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Nigeria: CBN will keep open banking ‘open’
Nigeria’s central bank has changed its decision to centralise Open Banking with the National Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) and will now align with an “Open” aggregation model. NIBSS will support the central bank to develop an Open Banking Registry, but the operations of the registry will be the sole responsibility of the regulator. The decision to centralise access to Open Banking APIs with NIBSS was hotly contested by banking and fintech professionals, and the central bank has listened to feedback and hopes to receive further feedback to make Open Banking guidelines operational.
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South Africa: Nedbank launches Roblox game
Nedbank has become the first African bank to launch a game on Roblox, aimed at teaching children money management skills. Developed by Sea Monster Entertainment, the game Chow Town is a tycoon-style game that allows players to set up and expand a restaurant through incremental investment. The move comes as the gaming market in Africa is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of 12.65% between 2023 and 2028. Nedbank’s Chow Town aims to teach entrepreneurial skills and offer an educational experience for tweens.
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Ethiopia: Awash Bank partners with Ugandan fintech to offer microloans
Ugandan fintech firm, Service Cops, has partnered with Ethiopia’s Awash Bank to enable about 12 million customers to access digital microloans. The deal will see the roll-out of instant microloans initially offered to Awash Bank customers and gradually extended to non-bank customers. Service Cops is the first Ugandan-based fintech to operate in Ethiopia and is one of a few Ugandan fintechs operating outside Uganda.
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Bank of Africa UK moves core banking to Oracle Cloud
Bank of Africa UK has moved its core banking systems to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, in a bid to improve the flexibility, performance and cost efficiencies of its critical applications and services, including trading and payments processing. The bank is also using Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Resource Planning and Temenos Transact to improve its financial performance and digital core-banking system. The platform, hosted on Oracle’s London cloud region powered by 100% renewable energy, is planned to go live in 2023.
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Zambia: Bank of Zambia clears Atlas Mara takeover by Access Bank
Access Bank, the Nigerian lender, has received regulatory approval to acquire African Banking Corporation Zambia Limited (Atlas Mara Zambia), which is expected to be completed in Q3 2023. Access Bank has been making a series of acquisitions across Africa to boost its bottom line and increase access to more liquidity and assets outside Nigeria, including Cavmont Bank Limited in Zambia and Grobank Limited in South Africa.
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South Africa: Fin aquires Thuthukani Housing Finance
African neobank Fin has acquired Thuthukani Housing Finance, renaming the firm’s incremental housing finance product as Fin Home Loans and integrating it into its South African portfolio. Fin’s co-CEO said the acquisition was part of its efforts to identify partners in different areas with this requirement, while the acquisition will help scale the business and bring its offering to more people.
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Nigeria: Opera increases its investment in OPay
Norwegian consumer internet brand, Opera, has increased its share in Africa-focused neo-bank OPay from 6.4% to 9.5%, after selling Nanobank for $127 million in 2022. Opera chose to take OPay shares instead of cash, gaining $35.9 million less than what its investment in Nanobank was worth on paper. The company believes that OPay’s strong growth trajectory makes its investment marketable in the future.
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Kenya: Former head of public service joins KCB board
Former Head of Public Service, Dr. Francis Kinyua, has been appointed to the Board of Directors of Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) Group Plc, effective March 24, 2023. Kinyua has served in various senior positions in the government and has had an illustrious career spanning over 44 years in public service.
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Cameroon: New bank launches, 7th largest by capital
Samuel Foyou’s Africa Golden Bank has been approved to operate as the 19th bank in Cameroon, contributing to the government’s plan to increase the number of active banks to 30 by 2030. Foyou’s investment portfolio expands with the bank, adding to his ten-company empire that includes a 5-star hotel and a brewery.
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South Africa: Banks sign onto low-fee transaction platform
BankservAfrica has launched PayShap, a new rapid low-fee payment system that allows consumers to send small-sum transactions with just a phone number. The system is expected to bring more people towards a cashless society and has been positively received by commercial banks. Currently, the system is available in Standard Bank, Absa, Nedbank and FNB. However, more banks, including Capitec, Investec, Discovery, TymeBank and Standard Chartered, are expected to integrate the new system in the future.
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African banks at low risk of failure, says Moody’s
Moody’s has stated that African banks are at low risk of deposit withdrawals due to the stability of their deposits, high liquidity, and central bank support. The study found that most rated African banks have solid liquidity that can buffer large deposit withdrawals, and the impact of any unrealized investment losses is modest. The greatest risk facing banks across the region is rising sovereign credit risk, and African banks face many challenges captured in their low credit ratings.
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Ghana: FNB launches accounts for women
FBN Bank has launched a gender-focused account for women, dubbed FirstGem, to drive economic empowerment and wealth creation. The account has three variants and is designed for female professionals and entrepreneurs to promote financial inclusion, with a second-level Know Your Customer requirement. FBN Bank’s managing director said that the bank is ensuring that women are at the core of its work and operations, and the FirstGem account is part of its effort to empower women professionally and financially.
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Nigeria: MTN proposes merging its finance subsidiaries
MTN Nigeria Communications is proposing to merge its two finance subsidiaries, Momo Payment Service Bank and Yello Digital Financial Services, subject to regulatory approval. The merger will combine the subsidiaries and hold the Payment Service Bank license granted by the Central Bank of Nigeria, while offering super-agent services and other permissible activities. The move is in line with the federal government’s drive towards financial inclusion in Nigeria, said MTN Nigeria’s CEO Karl Toriola.
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Kenya: KCB staff count grows rapidly
KCB Group, Kenya’s largest bank by assets, increased its workforce by 2,560 employees in 2022 following the acquisition of a controlling stake in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Trust Merchant Bank (TMB) and fresh hiring across other units. The bank’s staff costs rose 22.4% to KES30.26bn ($280m) in 2022 as a result. KCB’s total assets grew by 36.4% to KES1.55tn, helped by increased lending, investment in government securities, and growth in customer deposits and additional borrowings.
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Nigeria: Central bank introduces new rules for mobile money operators
As Nigerian bank customers search for alternatives due to recent transaction failures, licensed mobile money operators have gained popularity by providing better experiences and incentives like zero transfer charges and daily rewards. However, concerns about the legality of these platforms have prompted the central bank to release a list of authorized operators, and it has also issued a regulatory framework for agent banking operations to mitigate risks in the financial sector. The framework includes restrictions such as prohibiting agents from conducting transactions in foreign currency and using the purchase option on PoS terminals for cash-in and cash-out transactions.
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Nigeria: Chipper Cash weighing its options
African fintech company, Chipper Cash, is reportedly considering selling the business or bringing in new investors, following a turbulent 2022 that saw the collapse of crypto exchange FTX and lead investor, Silicon Valley Bank. Despite rumours that Chipper Cash would be hard hit by SVB’s demise, the company has stated that it had “insignificant exposure” to the bank and that the owners had never considered selling the business. The fintech unicorn’s valuation dropped from $2bn to $1.25bn in 2022, and it trimmed its workforce due to rising costs.
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Nigeria: Unity Bank reshuffles board
Unity Bank PLC in Nigeria announced the retirement of Mr. Aminu Babangida and Dr. Oluwafunsho Obasanjo from their roles as Chairman of the Board of Directors and Non-Executive Director respectively, as their tenures expired. The Board has approved the appointment of Mr. Hafiz Mohammed Bashir as the Acting Chairman of the Board and two new Non-Executive Directors, Professor Iyabo Obasanjo and Ms. Halima Babangida, subject to Central Bank of Nigeria’s approval.
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Nigeria: Unity Bank appoints acting chair, new directors
Unity Bank’s chairman, Aminu Babangida, and non-executive director, Oluwafunsho Obasanjo, have retired from the bank in compliance with the prescribed tenure for non-executive directors under the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Code of Corporate Governance for Banks. The lender has appointed Hafiz Mohammed Bashir as its acting chairman and appointed Iyabo Obasanjo and Halima Babangida as non-executive directors. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo and ex-military President Ibrahim Babangida, who have both ruled Nigeria at different periods in the past, have interests in the bank.
Categories: Banks