January, 2019

• 2 January

  RBI surprises by reversing its debt revamp stance

  

  Bloomberg India’s central bank will permit lenders to restructure stressed loans to small companies, breaking from a five-year-old policy of eschewing sweeping corporate debt overhauls. The Reserve Bank of India will allow one-time restructuring of loans to micro, small and medium-sized companies that are in default, the regulator said in a statement. To be eligible for the program, the loan ...

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• 2 January

  Fed gauge points to interest rate cuts for first time since 2008

  

  Bloomberg A market indicator watched by the Fed as one of the most accurate gauges of economic health is pricing in lower rates for the first time in more than a decade. The little-known near-term forward spread, which reflects the difference between the forward rate implied by Treasury bills six quarters from now and the current three-month yield, fell to ...

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• 2 January

  RBC’s McGregor eyes private-equity deals

  

  Bloomberg Call it a New Year’s resolution for Royal Bank of Canada’s top investment banker: Doug McGregor wants to spend more time with private equity in 2019. As head of RBC Capital Markets, McGregor spent a decade expanding a Canadian bank-owned firm once focussed on its home turf into a global operation with more bankers, resources and revenue in the ...

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• 2 January

  Access, Diamond banks sign pact on merger

  Bloomberg The Board of Access Bank Plc announced the signing of a memorandum of agreement (MoA) with Diamond Bank Plc regarding a potential merger of the two banks that will create Nigeria and Africa’s largest retail bank by customers. This follows its selection as preferred bidder after a competitive process undertaken by the Board of Diamond Bank. The proposed merger ...

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• 2 January

  Investors battle to swallow Absa’s road to recovery tale

  

  Bloomberg Absa Group Ltd is having a hard time convincing some investors it can win back the market share lost while under the control of Barclays Plc. South Africa’s third-largest lender was once the leading retail bank with over 10 million customers and more mortgages on its books than any of its Johannesburg-based peers. Now, released from the shackles of ...

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December, 2018

• 31 December

  UAE banks invest $24bn in Saudi Arabia, Egypt

  

  ABU DHABI / WAM The investment of UAE’s banks in Saudi Arabia and Egypt reached AED87.2 billion ($23.7 billion)at the end of Q3 2018, representing 12.5 percent of the total assets invested abroad, which amounted to about AED693 billion in September of the same year. Figures from the UAE Central Bank show that the value of investments by UAE banks, ...

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• 31 December

  Oil heads for first annual slump in 3 yrs

  

  Bloomberg Oil headed for its first annual decline since 2015, slumping more than 20 percent in a turbulent year that saw fears of supply scarcity turn to expectations of a surplus. Crude surrendered early gains on Monday and fell as much as 1.3 percent in New York, on track for the worst quarterly drop since the last oil market crash ...

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• 31 December

  German power price jump could extend into 2019

  

  Bloomberg The record jump in prices in Europe’s biggest power market could extend well into 2019. Booming European carbon futures, Germany’s plan to shut some of its dirtiest plants, and low water levels after an extremely dry summer are all factors driving the region’s electricity prices. While 2018’s surge probably won’t be repeated, Wood McKenzie Ltd says average rates for ...

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• 31 December

  Russia’s oil bosses brush off price drop

  

  Bloomberg Russian officials and executives from its biggest oil companies put on a brave face, even as Brent trades near 16-month lows. “The drop in oil prices hardly bother us because our budget is based on $42 a barrel,” First Deputy Prime Minister Anton Siluanov told reporters ahead of a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and big business in Moscow. ...

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• 31 December

  Gasoline prices in South Africa’s Gauteng set to fall

  Bloomberg The price of gasoline in South Africa’s economic hub of Gauteng will fall to the lowest since March in January 2019. A liter of 95-octane gasoline will decrease 1.23 rand to 14.01 rand ($0.97) in Gauteng, which includes Johannesburg and the capital, Pretoria, the Central Energy Fund said in an emailed statement. Diesel will decline 1.53 rand a liter ...

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