Banking

Bloomberg Ghana’s Energy Commercial Bank Ltd plans to raise about 330 million cedis ($75 million) through an initial public offering as the lender prepares to meet the regulator’s new threshold for capital requirements. The share sale will start next month, with IC Securities Ltd acting as the transaction adviser for the rights issue, Charles Nixon Yeboah, a spokesman for the ...

Bloomberg Digital currencies are a revolutionary tool that central banks should consider, but they remain far too risky to be used as legal tender any time soon, according to the Bank for International Settlements. The BIS — the club of the world’s largest central banks — said in a report that the new form of money could one day be ...

Bloomberg The case is strengthening for Norwegian central bank policy makers to soon raise interest rates for the first time in seven years. Economic growth is accelerating, oil prices are up, unemployment is nearing rock-bottom levels and central banks around the world are starting to withdraw stimulus. At the same time, the government this month decided to lower the inflation ...

Bloomberg Government-imposed caps on commercial interest rates risk destroying Kenya’s banking industry unless they’re addressed soon, the head of the country’s biggest lender said. KCB Group Plc wants the ceiling raised to more than the current 400 basis-point limit above official rates, an easier route than seeking a repeal of the law in parliament, Chief Financial Officer Lawrence Kimathi said ...

Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG plans to raise as much as 1.8 billion euros ($2.2 billion) in an initial public offering of its asset-management unit, a key pillar of the German lender’s turnaround strategy. The offering values the asset manager at as much as 7.2 billion euros, a valuation that would align it with its bigger peer Amundi SA. Nippon Life ...

Bloomberg VBS Mutual Bank, one of South Africa’s smallest lenders, has been put into administration after it was unable to repay money owed to municipalities, according to the country’s central bank. The management team has been relieved of its duties and a curator from the auditing firm SizweNtsalubaGobodo put in place following a “severe liquidity crisis,” Lesetja Kganyago, governor of ...

Bloomberg Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. said it aims to raise as much as 100 billion yuan ($15.8 billion) in what would be the biggest-ever follow-on share offering by a Chinese company as it moves to replenish capital. China’s third-largest lender will sell up to 27.5 billion shares to seven state-linked entities including the country’s Finance Ministry, Central Huijin Investment ...

Bloomberg Egypt selected four European banks to manage its first euro-denominated bond sale, taking advantage of lower borrowing costs in Europe as it looks to secure funding to plug the budget deficit. The government picked BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, Standard Chartered and Intesa Sanpaolo for the issuance worth between 1 billion and 1.5 billion euros that’s slated to be held ...

Bloomberg The Polish central bank could yet waver on its commitment to keep interest rates stable. While three of Poland’s biggest lenders said Governor Adam Glapinski last week delivered the most dovish briefing of his tenure, its message was still so nuanced that some in the market are having second thoughts. The zloty, after a brief decline, has settled down ...

Bloomberg JPMorgan Chase & Co. sees initial public offerings and M&A driving Middle East deals this year in what the US bank expects to be its busiest in the region. Private sector mergers and state sell-offs as part of privatisation plans will accelerate, while corporate bond sales are also likely to rise, Sjoerd Leenart, the bank’s global head of corporate ...