Banking

JOHANNESBURG / Reuters South African lender Capitec Bank Holdings reported a 26 percent rise in full-year profit on Wednesday, in line with forecast, as growth in client numbers boosted both interest and transaction fee income. Capitec, which grants loans not supported by assets, said it gained 1 million active clients, to total 7.3 million customers, over the past year as ...

Frankfurt / Reuters The European Central Bank (ECB) will not move interest rates into absurdly negative territory and negative rates are not the bank’s main policy instrument even if further cuts cannot be ruled out, Executive Board Member Benoit Coeure told a political magazine. Although negative rates could reduce banks’ profitability, lenders actually increased their interest margins last year when ...

Bloomberg India’s most reliable source of foreign funding is under threat. Remittances fell to $15.8 billion last quarter, the lowest since April-June 2011 and a 9.4 percent drop from a year earlier, as the global slowdown and slumping oil prices reduce demand for foreign workers. Indians working abroad — from construction labourers in Dubai to Silicon Valley engineers — send ...

Bloomberg Credit Suisse Group AG hired Jeffrey Cohen from Lazard Ltd. as the firm seeks to expand its retail and consumer products investment-banking business. Cohen, 52, is a vice chairman based in New York and reports to Jens Welter, global head of retail and consumer products, the Zurich-based firm said in a staff memo, a copy of which Bloomberg obtained ...

Dubai / Reuters Net foreign assets at Saudi Arabia’s Central Bank dropped 1.7 percent from the previous month to 2.19 trillion riyals ($584 billion) in February, central bank data showed on Tuesday. Assets fell 17.3 percent from a year earlier to their lowest level since May 2012. They reached a record high of $737 billion in August 2014 before starting ...

Bloomberg A changing of the guard on Bank of Korea’s (BOK’s) board will usher in four policy makers with links to the government, increasing speculation that the BOK may cut borrowing costs that are already at a record low. The nominees announced to replace members vacating their positions on April 20 have all worked directly in government or for state-funded ...

Tokyo / Reuters Driving interest rates below zero, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) has turned a comatose government bond market into an enormous free-for-all, complicating the central bank’s own efforts to kick-start growth and end deflation. The $9 trillion market for Japanese Government Bonds (JGBs) had been all but paralysed since the BOJ began a massive monetary easing three years ...

Bloomberg Bank of Korea (BOK) released names of four board member candidates to replace members whose terms end on April 20 The BOK recommended Lee Il Houng, head of Korea Institute for International Economic Policy. Finance Ministry recommended Cho Dong Chul, chief economist for state-run Korea Development Institute. Financial Services Commission recommended Standing Commissioner Koh Seung Beom. The Korea Chamber ...

Rabat / Reuters Moroccan lender BMCE Bank of Africa’s net profit rose 1 percent to 1.95 billion dirham ($201.76 million) in 2015 as strong growth in banking activities offset non-recurrent charges and higher bad loans. Consolidated net banking income rose 3 percent to 11.8 billion dirhams in the same period, it said in a statement on Monday. Banking income was ...

Amman / AP Jordan will get a cheap $100 million loan to help create 100,000 jobs for Syrian refugees and its own citizens, the World Bank president has announced. The long-term loan, almost interest free, is part of an attempt by the international community to improve conditions for refugees in overburdened regional host countries, including Jordan and Lebanon. More than ...