Don't panic, Nigerian governor says, as bank shake-out looms

Emefiele, CBN governor

Breaking the central bankers' taboo on use of the 'p-word', Nigeria's Godwin Emefiele is urging people not to panic about the banking system, saying he is on top of any trouble resulting from the worst crisis in Africa's biggest economy for decades.
For now, depositors and investors are generally giving the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor the benefit of the doubt after he shored up mid-tier lender Skye Bank this month with a loan and replaced its management when its capital fell below levels required by regulators.
But pressure is building, with loan books - nearly half of them in dollars - hammered by a shrinking economy, a plunging currency and acute foreign exchange shortages, all a consequence of the slump in the oil price for Africa's top crude producer.
Non-performing loans are expected to jump to 12.5 percent of total loans this year, up from the central bank's target level of 5 percent at the end of last year, as lenders suffer a hangover from an oil sector credit boom that ended abruptly in 2015, according to Agusto & Co, Nigeria's main rating agency.
Nigeria's 21 banks have been laying off staff, closing branches and slashing earnings forecasts, but some are unlikely to survive the storm, analysts say.
"It will affect their profitability initially and eventually it is going to affect their liquidity and solvency," said Bismarck Rewane, chief executive of Lagos-based consultancy Financial Derivatives.
"Because of the squeeze in profitability there will be a natural consolidation and a shake out."
Any failure of the banking sector would have far-reaching consequences in the nation of 170 million, with civil servants' pay routed through the banks and residents of remote villages dependent on electronic systems for routine payments.
Sterling Bank chief executive Abubakar Suleiman said in February a naira drop of just 20 percent would trigger a "wave" of bank mergers. Since a devaluation last month, the currency has lost double that against the dollar.
Overall, 42 percent of loans extended by Nigerian banks are in dollars. If the naira falls far enough, it will force some banks to recapitalise to have enough naira to stay within financial stability limits.
"There is concern around the evolution of banks' capital adequacy if the naira continues to weaken," said Standard Chartered Africa chief economist Razia Khan. "As the naira weakens, FX loans are likely to be problematic."
DELAYED RESULTS
According to London-based analysts Exotix, UBA, Diamond and Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB), which is Nigeria's biggest bank by market capitalisation, have the highest ratio of dollar loans, at 50 percent apiece.
Diamond declined to comment, while UBA and GTB said they saw no need for a recapitalisation due to the devaluation.
One Lagos-based banking analyst, who asked not to be named, said three or four medium-sized banks might need to raise capital. The central bank has said it is monitoring one or two lenders for liquidity, without naming them.
Adding to uncertainty, GTB delayed its half-year earnings this week pending an interim audit.
Two mid-tier banks, Skye and Stanbic - the local arm of South Africa's Standard Bank - said they had not yet released first quarter earnings.
Some banks have themselves borrowed heavily in dollars, debt that now costs much more to service.
Top of this list is GTB, which has $1.6 billion in dollar-denominated debt, followed by First Bank of Nigeria, with $915 million, according to Thomson Reuters data. First Bank was not immediately available to comment.
Anticipating problems from a weaker naira, investors have been selling off banking stocks for the last year, sending the banking index in January to its lowest since it was formed in 2009, and less than half its level in mid-2014.
Many banking stocks - hot foreign investor picks a decade ago during an 'Africa rising' boom - remain depressed after a 2009 sector melt-down stemming from the global financial crisis.
Zenith shares are a third of their pre-financial crisis highs, Access a quarter, and First Bank just 10 percent. GTB, by contrast, has recovered as it has one of the lowest levels of non-performing loans and its shares are now in line with their 2008 levels.
"DON'T PANIC"
With the IMF forecasting a 1.8 percent contraction in the economy this year, the immediate prospects for the banking sector are grim but Emefiele was adamant the financial system remained solid.
"The strategic health of the Nigerian banking or financial system remains strong at this time. There is no need for anybody to begin to panic or worry that any bank is in distress," he said after a monetary policy meeting this week.
"Depositors of banks, please, please endure. We appeal to you: go about your business. You will not lose your deposits in any bank."
However, his soothing words, which followed a rush by depositors to withdraw funds from Skye earlier this month, may have the opposite effect, especially after police in May raided three banks - Access, Fidelity and Sterling - as part of a probe into alleged illegal transactions.
"The moment you start saying it, it raises eyebrows - why are you saying that?" Financial Derivatives' Rewane said.
Another problem is the lack of transparency over so-called "insider loans" to directors and shareholders. These are often not declared in earnings statements in a timely manner, bankers say, making a bad picture possibly even worse.
The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corp, an independent federal agency, said this week it was concerned "over the increasing wave of non-performing insider loans in various banks and its consequences for the stability of the nation's banking systems".

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Nigerian naira weakens to 330.50 in off-market trades

Nigeria's naira fell to an all-time low on Thursday, crossing 300 to the dollar for the first time on the interbank market after the central bank last month lifted its peg on the currency to allow it to trade freely.

The naira fell 5.4 percent against the greenback to 309 at 1224 GMT on dollar supply shortages. It later recovered to close at 292.40 on the interbank market on thin trades. The interbank market traded a total of $7.27 million.
Traders were expecting the central bank to intervene to ease dollar shortages, which did not materialise. The bank has not intervened for most of this week, they said. Instead it was mopping up naira liquidity to support the currency.
After market closed at 1300 GMT, a total of $7.10 million trades were done as low as 330.50 naira to the dollar.
"Now that the market has adjusted upwards it seems people are comfortable and that's why we are seeing some trades," one trader said.
Banks had been quoting the dollar at 281 to 285 naira after the central bank lifted its 16-month-old peg of 197 naira to the dollar last month. But the lack of liquidity at those levels has curbed activity, leaving the central bank as the main supplier of dollars, traders say.
On the interbank money market, overnight rates has been stuck at a high of 40 percent for much of this week, traders said, as the central bank mops up naira liquidity through treasury bill issues to attract offshore investors into bonds.
The naira traded weaker on the black market to 375 against the dollar on Thursday.

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Nigeria to start international borrowing in Q3 - finance minister

Nigeria will start borrowing abroad in the third quarter, Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun said on Thursday, in the wake of the central bank's decision to float the naira last month.
The government has said it plans to borrow up to $10 billion, with about half of that coming from foreign sources, to help make up a budget shortfall exacerbated by a slump in oil prices.

Adeosun

The oil producer had initially planned to hold Eurobonds road shows in March but postponed sales as investors complained about the overvalued naira, according to bankers.
In June, the central bank floated the naira.
On Thursday, the currency hit a record low of 330.50 in off-market transactions, after just one trade was made during regular interbank hours at a rate of 309 naira to the dollar.
"We have been borrowing largely from the domestic market because we needed to get the exchange rate sorted out to enable us to borrow from the international market. The international borrowings will begin to come in Q3," Adeosun told reporters.
Nigeria's government has said it wants to change the balance of its debt portfolio so that 40 percent of its borrowing comes from abroad, compared with 16 percent now. It also wants to extend the average maturity of its debt profile.
Adeosun met international investors in June on a non-deal roadshow in London as Africa's biggest economy explores fund-raising options to finance a record budget deficit.
Last week the central bank governor flew to Britain and the United States to try to lure back investors.

*Copyright Reuters News

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Nigeria central bank grants loan to Skye Bank after capital problems

Nigeria's central bank has provided a short-term loan to Skye Bank to help to stabilise its operations after it replaced top executives for failing to meet minimum capital requirements.

The central bank has been seeking to contain growing problems at Nigerian banks where profits have been falling and bad loans rising due to a heavy exposure to the oil industry and a weak economy due to low oil prices.

Emefiele, CBN Gov

"We provide a short-term facility to help them manage the panic withdrawal that happened," central bank spokesman Isaac Okorafor said. Depositors had rushed to withdraw money after Skye Bank's bosses were replaced. 

"In order to support the new management we decided to give them some money, just to support them," he said. Okorafor did not disclose how much money was granted to Skye. 

The central bank had decided to replace Skye's senior executives two weeks ago. 

It subsequently appointed Tokunbo Abiru from rival First Bank to head Lagos-based Skye Bank, the country's eighth-largest bank. 

Nigeria's central bank has powers to remove bank executives and used them during the 2008/2009 global financial crisis when it sacked nine CEOs at banks which were undercapitalised. 

Skye became one of the country's systemically important banks according to the central bank after it bought Mainstreet Bank in 2014 requiring it to hold more capital. 

The central bank has said Skye is able to meet its obligations and that it will provide support until the new management can bring in fresh funds.

*Copyright Reuters News

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No need to panic about Nigeria sliding into recession, finance minister says

Nigeria will face only a short recession if its economy shrinks again in the second quarter, because removing fuel subsidies and implementing policies to reduce dependency on oil will pay off, Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun said on Thursday.

Adeosun, Finmin

On Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund said Nigeria's economy is likely to contract by 1.8 percent this year because of a slump in oil prices and a shortage of hard currency.
Gross domestic product contracted by 0.36 percent in the first quarter of the year and the central bank's governor has said a recession appears to be imminent. Data for second-quarter GDP is expected in August.
"I think if we are in recession, what I will like to say is that we are going to come out of it and it is going to be a short one," Adeosun told reporters after briefing the Senate on the economy. "I don't think we should panic."
Her comments were the first government reaction to the IMF forecast.
Adeosun said government measures such as the lifting of fuel subsidies and boosting of non-oil production would give the economy a fillip. "Agriculture output seems to be up," she said.
"We were subsidising around 45 million litres of fuel per day," she said. "These are real savings to the economy which we are now redirecting into the essential infrastructure that will keep the economy going."
In June, the central bank removed the naira's peg to the dollar to ease dollar shortages, but liquidity remains thin and the currency dropped to a new low on Thursday.
Hours after Adeosun's briefing, Budget Minister Udoma Udo Udoma told reporters the economy "will be in positive territory" by the end of 2016.
"We will be at about 3.3 to 3.5 percent economic growth by the end of this year," he said after a meeting of the National Economic Council, which advises the government. He said non-oil revenues, particularly from taxes, looked set to rise.
"We are expecting the economy to begin to grow again from the third quarter on to the fourth quarter," he said.
Last week, Udoma told lawmakers the government's first-quarter revenues reached only 55 percent of their target, largely due to militant attacks on oil and gas facilities in the southern Niger Delta energy hub.
The attacks have cut oil production, pushing what was Africa's largest oil producer behind Angola and threatening the country's main revenue source.

*Copyright Reuters News

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Nigeria interbank rate rise on bond purchases

Nigeria's interbank overnight lending rate rose for the second consecutive week on Friday to an average of 15 percent from 10 percent a week ago, as banks scrambled for liquidity to settle bond purchases.
Nigeria sold 120 billion naira worth of local currency-denominated bonds with mixed yields compared with the returns from previous issues last month while payment for the debt sale was due on Friday.
Total banking system liquidity opened at 137.30 billion naira on Friday, but payment for bonds significantly reduced the level of cash in the market, leading to a sharp rise in the cost of borrowing among commercial lenders.
Traders said some banks actually quoted as high as 50 percent for overnight placement in early trade in their quest to get cash to pay for their bond purchases. But demand for cash dropped after the central bank refunded about 40 billion naira in cash reserve ratio to some banks.
"We see the market trading around this level next week because of anticipation that some banks would prefer to go to the discount window to borrow at a cheaper rate of 14 percent," one dealer said.
*Copyright Reuters News

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ExxonMobil declares force majeure on Nigeria's Qua Iboe crude oil -spokesman

ExxonMobil subsidiary Mobil Producing Nigeria has declared force majeure on exports of Nigeria's Qua Iboe crude oil, the country's largest export stream, a spokesman said on Friday.
The declaration came after the company observed a "system anomaly" during a routine check of its loading facility on July 14.
"We are working to ensure loading activities at the facility return to normal. We cannot speculate on any timeline for repairs," the spokesman said. "Qua Iboe Terminal is operating and production activities continue."
Nigeria has struggled to maintain its crude oil production following a spate of militant attacks and technical problems that in May pushed production briefly to 30-year lows. While the cause of the latest issue was not immediately clear, traders said it would take least two to four weeks to repair.
Earlier this week, Exxon denied claims from militant group the Niger Delta Avengers to have blown up the Qua Iboe 48" crude oil export pipeline operated by the company.
Spokesman Todd Spitler said on Friday there was no connection between the force majeure and militant attacks.
Exxon has struggled to bring production of Qua Iboe back to normal after an accident in May on a drilling rig that damaged a pipeline, after which the company also declared force majeure.
Since lifting that declaration in early June, there have been roughly three revisions to loading schedules, attributed to a slower-than-expected resumption of flows, with loading delays of at least five days.
*Copyright Reuters News

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African Union to launch continental passport to ease free moment, trade

The African Union passport expected to be officially launched during the 27th African Union Summit is considered a prodigious triumph for the continent and it will ease free movement of people, spur economic growth and development as well as promote intra-African trade, a senior official has revealed.
Regional trade integration has long been a strategic objective for Africa yet despite some success in eliminating non-tariff barriers within regional communities, the African market remains highly fragmented.
A range of non-tariff and regulatory barriers still raise transaction costs and limit the movement of goods, services, people and capital across borders throughout Africa.
With the promotion of intra-African trade it will boost and ease doing business within African countries which later will reduce the trade deficit among African nations.
According to the Rwanda's foreign affairs minister, Louise Mushikiwabo, the issuance of an African passport is among the African strategic initiatives intended to come as a possible rescue to disband all the restrictions to movement which will eventually create a conducive environment for Africans to trade with each other.
"Rwanda is ready for the AU Passport issuance. Other countries will also be working towards implementation of this decision. The free movement of people in Africa will spur our economic growth," she said during a press conference on Thursday [14 July] organized in the sidelines of the African Union Summit currently holding at the Kigali Convention Centre (KCC), in Rwanda.
During the Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union that convenes on Sunday this week, African Heads of State will officially launch the passport paving the way for beginning of the process to commence issuance of this travel document.
Actually, the concept of unrestricted movement of persons, goods and services across regions and the continent is not new; it has been outlined in documents like the Lagos Plan of Action and the Abuja Treaty - an indication that the unhampered movement of citizens is critical for Africa's development.
"Passports will be delivered to heads of state and other diplomats during the launch but the entire objective is for all African citizens to get this passport to facilitate their free movement. What we want is for African countries to fast-track this initiative," said Minister Mushikiwabo, while responding to journalists questions about the project.
The minister further mentioned that after the launch of the African Union Passport, every country will then proceed with the issuance of the passports in accordance with their national regulations and this will be done in collaboration with the African Union.
"Countries such as Seychelles, Mauritius, Rwanda, and Ghana have taken the lead in ensuring easier intra-Africa travel by relaxing visa restrictions and in some cases lifting visa requirements altogether. The scene seems to be set to realize the dream of visa-free travel for African citizens within their own continent by 2020", noted the minister.
She added that issuance of the AU Passport is expected to pave the way for the member states to adopt and ratify the necessary protocols and legislation with the view to begin issuing the much expected African Union Passport.
Insecurity
When asked about whether the use of single passport won't cause insecurity on the continent, the Rwandan Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation noted that the passport was a blessing, not a curse, however, adding that, African countries were inquisitive about this and were ready to deal with insecurity accordingly.
"The fear for insecurity should not stop people from moving. It shouldn't be an impediment for free movement of our people; we must be prepared to deal with all sorts of insecurity. For us in East African community we have gone ahead to work together in intelligence and security to deal with all factors that can cause insecurity," Mushikiwabo further emphasized.
Free movement has shown up in continental development strategy documents since the 1980 Lagos Plan of Action and the 1991 Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community (AEC), commonly known as the Abuja Treaty.

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Nigeria sells 120 bln naira in bonds with mixed yields - debt office

Nigeria sold 120 billion naira worth of local currency-denominated bonds with mixed yields compared with the returns from previous issues last month, results released by the Debt Management Office (DMO) showed on Friday.
The debt office sold 55 billion naira of 2036 paper at 14.98 percent, the same yield as on similar debt issued at the last auction on June 15.
It sold 35 billion naira worth of 2026 debt at 14.90 percent, 50 basis points higher than the yield at the previous auction. The debt office also sold 30 billion naira at par in the 2021 paper at 14.50 percent.
While the debt office sold 15 billion naira above what it initially offered on the 2036 maturing debt, it sold 5 billion naira and 10 billion naira less on the 2026 and 2021 paper each respectively.

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Nigeria debt auction delayed by system glitch

Nigeria's plans to raise 120 billion naira ($425 million) in bond maturing 2021, 2026 and 2036 on Wednesday was stalled by system glitch at the central bank, but the auction is currently ongoing, an official of the Debt Management Office said.
In a public notice on Monday, the debt office said it will raise 40 billion naira at par in 2021 bond, while also raising 40 billion naira apiece in the 2026 and 2036 maturing bonds at the auction.
"There was a system glitch at the central bank, which stalled the issuance on Wednesday, but the process is presently ongoing and will soon close," an official of the debt office told Reuters.
*Copyright Reuters 

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Bank of England Holds Benchmark Rate at Historic Low in Wake of Brexit Vote

The Bank of England has held its benchmark interest rate at 0.50% and indicated that it may loosen monetary policy in August after voting to maintain the current asset purchase scheme at £375 billion ($500 billion).
Minutes from the central bank's monetary policy meeting, which was held on Wednesday, showed that members voted by a majority of 8-1 to maintain Bank Rate at 0.5%, with one member voting for a cut in Bank Rate to 0.25%.
The bank said that committee members had made initial assessments of the impact of Britain's vote to leave the European Union (EU) on demand, supply and the exchange rate. It said that most members "expect monetary policy to be loosened in August", assuming "the absence of a further worsening in the trade-off between supporting growth and returning inflation to target on a sustainable basis".
Details of "precise size and nature of any stimulatory measures" would be determined in August, the minutes added.
The minutes stated that financial markets had reacted sharply to the nation's vote to leave the European Union pointing out that since the committee's previous meeting, sterling effective exchange rate have fallen by 6%, and short-term and longer-term interest rates have declined.
The committee said that there are preliminary signs that the result has affected sentiment among households and companies, with "sharp falls in some measures of business and consumer confidence". Early indications from surveys and from contacts of the Bank's agents "suggest that some businesses are beginning to delay investment projects and postpone recruitment decisions", the minutes added. Taken together with survey data pointing to a significant weakening in expected activity in the housing market, the minutes stated that "these indicators suggest economic activity is likely to weaken in the near term".
Twelve-month consumer price index inflation was 0.3% in May and remains well below the bank's 2% inflation target.
Thursday's sees interest rates remaining at their lowest level since the central bank was founded in 1694.
Prior to the financial crisis, in May 2007, rates surged to a six-year high of 5.5%. Two months later, Mervyn King, then governor of the Bank of England raised rates by a quarter of a percentage point citing the increase in inflation among risks facing Britain's economy. But in December, with rising mortgage rates in the UK and global financial crisis in full swing, the bank brought rates back to 5.5% and, over the subsequent 15 months, rates were cut lower and lower eventually hitting 0.5% in March 2009.
Britain's decision to leave the European Union (EU) is the first time that a member state has chosen to pull out of the world's largest trading bloc, for which Britain had been member for the past 43 years. The result preceded former premier David Cameron's immediate resignation and the appointment of his successor Theresa May as Britain's new Prime Minister as of Wednesday.
May has previously indicated that she will not invoke Article 50 - the legal process which kickstarts Britain's countdown to withdrawal from the EU - until the end of the year. Once Article 50 has been triggered, the country will have up to two years to negotiate new trade deals with member states before its membership will cease to be active.
*Copyright MT Newswires

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McDonald's Blocks Porn Viewing at Its Restaurants

Presumably free public internet access is just that. Sign into Wi-Fi, surf as you would like. McDonald's Corp. has put an important limitation on that freedom. People who use its free Wi-Fi will no longer be able to use it to watch pornography.

McDonald

Enough Is Enough (EIE), an internet safety nonprofit, announced a program that in part already has been implemented:
EIE launched its "National Porn Free Wi-Fi" campaign" in the fall of 2014, with nearly 50,000 petitions and 75 partner organizations encouraging McDonald's and Starbucks to lead Corporate America in filtering Wi-Fi. Both companies were early adopters in the U.K., where they voluntarily filtered pornography on their public WiFi networks. McDonald's responded rapidly and positively to the initial outreach to their CEO by EIE in spring 2014, and began exploring options for WiFi filtering. To date, Starbucks has yet to respond.
In the first quarter of 2016, McDonald's began to implement their new filtered WiFi policy in their corporate-owned restaurants in the U.S., and made the same service available to their franchisees. While McDonald's wasn't aware of any pornography related incidents in their stores, their move to offer filtered WiFi is clearly one more major step in the right direction. The bottom line – the majority of McDonald's restaurants now offer safer WiFi access for their patrons.
The Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) comment is a public prod, obviously.
EIE President Donna Rice Hughes said:
Parents can have peace of mind that, when they or their children go to McDonald's, they will have a safer and more friendly WiFi experience, filtered from pornography, from child porn and from potential sexual exploitation and predation McDonald's deserves widespread praise for this act of corporate responsibility and commitment to children and family safety.
McDonald's describes the basis on which free Wi-Fi is available:
Get some work done, check your email or connect with friends. With free Wi-Fi at more than 11,500 participating restaurants, customers can access the Internet using their laptops or mobile devices at no charge.
Now, with restrictions.
terms and conditions
*Copyright 24/7 Wall St.

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Nearly 6 Million Americans Crash Into Other People's Cars On Purpose - 24/7 Wall St

In a ground breaking piece of research, the AAA found that road rage has reached epidemic proportions. The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found that close to 8 out of 10 Americans expressed some form of road rage in the last year. Of these, 3%, which represents 5.7 million drivers "Bumping or ramming another vehicle on purpose"

Road range

According to a press release, the foundation said :
Nearly 80 percent of drivers expressed significant anger, aggression or road rage behind the wheel at least once in the past year, according to a new study released today by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. The most alarming findings suggest that approximately eight million U.S. drivers engaged in extreme examples of road rage, including purposefully ramming another vehicle or getting out of the car to confront another driver.
Jurek Grabowski, Director of Research for the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, stated:
"Inconsiderate driving, bad traffic and the daily stresses of life can transform minor frustrations into dangerous road rage. Far too many drivers are losing themselves in the heat of the moment and lashing out in ways that could turn deadly."
The figures in detail:
A significant number of U.S. drivers reported engaging in angry and aggressive behaviors over the past year, according to the study's estimates:*
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Purposefully tailgating: 51 percent (104 million drivers)
Yelling at another driver: 47 percent (95 million drivers)
Honking to show annoyance or anger: 45 percent (91 million drivers)
Making angry gestures: 33 percent (67 million drivers)
Trying to block another vehicle from changing lanes: 24 percent (49 million drivers)
Cutting off another vehicle on purpose: 12 percent (24 million drivers)
Getting out of the vehicle to confront another driver: 4 percent (7.6 million drivers)
Bumping or ramming another vehicle on purpose: 3 percent (5.7 million drivers)
Age and testosterone are also factors
Male and younger drivers ages 19-39 were significantly more likely to engage in aggressive behaviors. For example, male drivers were more than three times as likely as female drivers to have gotten out of a vehicle to confront another driver or rammed another vehicle on purpose
Imagine the potential problems, if all these people carried guns
*Copyright Wall St.

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IFC raising $2.5 billion to support private sector development

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group,
on Wednesday issued a $2.5 billion global bond, that was heavily oversubscribed also marking a solid start to the institution’s annual borrowing program to support private sector development in emerging markets.
The five-year bond generated an order book of $3.8 billion, indicating strong investor demand. The bonds yield 1.229 percent—the equivalent of 17.45 basis points over the corresponding United States (U.S) Treasury note. Central banks and other official institutions accounted for 58 percent of the orders.
More than half the orders came from investors in the Asia-Pacific region.
“Thanks to IFC’s international triple-A credit rating and our standing as a premier global issuer, we have begun the year with a very strong reception in the U.S. dollar market—despite the volatility we see in markets globally,” said Jingdong Hua, IFC VP and Treasurer.

“The positive response from investors so early in our new financial year puts us on a very strong
footing.”
Consistent with IFC’s practice, the proceeds of this issue will be swapped into floating-rate U.S. dollar funds that will be available for IFC investments in emerging markets. IFC has issued dollar-denominated global bonds each year since 2000 and last issued a five-year global dollar bond in July 2015. All IFC bond issuances are rated triple-A by Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s.
IFC’s borrowing program has expanded in recent years to keep pace with the growth in its investments across the world, reaching $16.2 billion in the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2016. Bonds denominated in U.S. dollars account for more than 60 percent of IFC’s funding program. In addition, IFC issues bonds in historically important markets such as the Australian-dollar Kangaroo market and the Japanese retail market.
IFC also issues discount notes in U.S. dollars and in the offshore Turkish lira and Chinese yuan markets; thematic bonds that support specific areas such as climate change; and local-currency bonds to develop local capital markets and to fund local-currency investments

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Finmin Hammond: low-cost borrowing attractive but UK indebted- ITN

Britain's new finance minister Philip Hammond said record-low government bond yields made borrowing attractive but the country was already very indebted.
"Borrowing, when the cost of money is cheap, has some great attractions, but this country is already highly indebted," Hammond said in an interview with ITN.
"And we need to be very careful about the signals we send to markets about our intentions. It is about getting the balance right, making sure that we borrow and invest wisely."

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New UK finance minister: We will do whatever is necessary after Brexit

Britain's new finance minister, Philip Hammond, said on Thursday he will do whatever is necessary to restore confidence in the economy after the Brexit vote, suggesting a softer less aggressive approach to bringing down the budget deficit.
In his first public comments since succeeding George Osborne as chancellor of the Exchequer, Hammond praised Bank of England Governor Mark Carney - who he was due to meet on Thursday - and said he would take decisions over the summer before outlining his tax and spending plans.
"Markets do need signals of reassurance, they need to know that we will do whatever is necessary to keep the economy on track," Hammond said on ITV television.
"We're working together across that referendum divide in the party to deliver the best possible deal for Britain. I think confidence will gradually begin to return and people will start to see the shape of the future that we're mapping out," he said.
Hammond, who has previously served as foreign, defence and transport minister, has a reputation in Westminster as a safe pair of hands who rarely hits the headlines. By contrast Osborne was former prime minister David Cameron's closest ally and chief strategist, making him one of the most visible political figures in Britain over the last six years.
NEW CIRCUMSTANCES, NEW APPROACH
The Brexit vote thrust Britain into its worst political crisis in modern times, with both major parties in turmoil and investors left guessing about how the future relationship with the EU will look.
The BoE is set on Thursday to cut interest rates for the first time in more than seven years as it seeks to cushion the world's fifth-biggest economy from the shock of the June 23 referendum decision to take Britain out of the EU.
In a series of media interviews on Thursday, Hammond declined to commit himself to plans made by Osborne in the wake of the referendum, including proposals to make further cuts to corporation tax.
But he suggested he would take a less aggressive approach to fixing the public finances, echoing comments by Britain's new prime minister Theresa May.
"Of course we've got to reduce the deficit further but looking at how and when and at what pace we do that, and how we measure our progress in doing that is something that we now need to consider in the light of the new circumstances that the economy is facing," he told BBC radio.
Osborne had aimed to turn Britain's budget deficit - which stands at about 4 percent of gross domestic product - into a surplus by 2020 although he said recently that he would no longer pursue that target given the expected hit to the economy from the country's decision to leave the EU.
Hammond also told the BBC that the City of London financial services industry was resilient in the short term but Britain could not be complacent about its future and he would try to ensure its access to the EU's single market.
Asked about big infrastructure projects, he said he expected the plan to build a major new power generation plant at Hinkley Point in southwest England, led by French power utility EDF, would be finalised soon and the new government would take a collective decision on expanding London's airport capacity.
*Copyright Reuters News

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Likely hack of U.S. banking regulator by China covered up -probe

The Chinese government likely hacked computers at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in 2010, 2011 and 2013 and employees at the U.S. banking regulator covered up the intrusions, according to a congressional report on Wednesday.
The report cited an internal FDIC investigation as identifying Beijing as the likely perpetrator of the attacks, which the probe said were covered up to protect the job of FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg, who was nominated for his post in 2011.
"The committee's interim report sheds light on the FDIC's lax cyber security efforts," said Lamar Smith, a Republican representative from Texas who chairs the House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space and Technology.
"The FDIC's intent to evade congressional oversight is a serious offense."
The report was released amid growing concern about the vulnerability of the international banking system to hackers and the latest example of how deeply Washington believes Beijing has penetrated U.S. government computers.
The report did not provide specific evidence that China was behind the hack.
Shane Shook, a cyber security expert who has helped investigate some of the breaches uncovered to date, said he did not see convincing evidence in the report that the Chinese government was behind the FDIC hack.
"As with all government agencies, there are management issues stemming from leadership ignorance of technology oversight," Shook said.
Speaking in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang repeated that China opposed hacking and acted against it.
People should provide evidence for their accusations and not wave around speculative words like "maybe" and "perhaps", he told reporters.
"This is extremely irresponsible."
The FDIC, a major U.S. banking regulator which keeps confidential data on America's biggest banks, declined to comment. Gruenberg is scheduled to testify on Thursday before the committee on the regulator's cyber security practices.
Washington has accused China of hacking computers at a range of federal agencies in recent years, including the theft of more than 21 million background check records from the federal Office of Personnel Management beginning in 2014.
WATCHDOG MEMO
The compromise of the FDIC computers by a foreign government had been previously reported in May and some lawmakers had mentioned China as a possible suspect, but the report on Wednesday for the first time cited a 2013 memo by the FDIC's inspector general, an internal watchdog, as pointing toward China.
"Even the former Chairwoman's computer had been hacked by a foreign government, likely the Chinese," the congressional report said, referring to Gruenberg's predecessor, Sheila Bair, who headed the FDIC from 2006 until 2011 when Gruenberg took over as acting chairman.
Bair could not be immediately reached for comment.
A redacted copy of the 2013 FDIC inspector general's memo seen by Reuters said investigators were unable to determine exactly which files had been extracted from agency computers.
But a source familiar with the FDIC's internal investigation said the areas of the regulator's network that were hacked suggested the intruders were seeking "economic intelligence."
In all, hackers compromised 12 FDIC workstations, including those of other executives such as the regulator's former chief of staff and former general counsel, and 10 servers, the congressional report said.
It accused the FDIC of trying to cover up the hacks so as not to endanger the congressional approval of Gruenberg, who was nominated by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in November 2012.
A witness interviewed by congressional staff said the FDIC's current head of its technology division, Russ Pittman, instructed employees not to disclose information about the foreign government's hack, the report said.
The witness said the hush order was to "avoid effecting the outcome of Chairman Gruenberg's confirmation," according to the report. Pittman could not immediately be contacted for comment.
The report also provided details of data breaches in which FDIC employees leaving the regulator took sensitive documents with them. It said current FDIC officials have purposely concealed information about breaches that had been requested by Congress.
U.S. intelligence officials believe Beijing has decreased its hacking activity since signing a pledge with Washington last September to refrain from breaking into computer systems for the purposes of commercial espionage.
At the same time, Obama has acknowledged difficulties in keeping government information secure. In addition, Republican opponents have said that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server when she was secretary of state could have exposed classified information to foreign governments.
*Copyright Reuters

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May to take over as British PM with mammoth task of delivering Brexit

Theresa May will take over the job of British prime minister from David Cameron on Wednesday and form a government with the monumental tasks of extricating Britain from the European Union and uniting a fractured nation.

May, UK PM

May, who has been interior minister for six years and is seen by her supporters as a safe pair of hands to steer the country through the disruptive Brexit process, will become Britain's second woman prime minister, after Margaret Thatcher.
Britain's decision to leave has rocked the bloc it joined 43 years ago, and thrown decades of European integration into reverse.
Cameron, who led the "Remain" campaign, announced the morning after the June 23 referendum that he would stand down, triggering a leadership contest in the ruling Conservative Party.
The contest had been due to last until September but ended unexpectedly on Monday when junior energy minister Andrea Leadsom, May's last rival candidate after others were eliminated, abruptly pulled out.
After taking part in his last weekly session of Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) in parliament's House of Commons at lunchtime, Cameron will make his way to Buckingham Palace to tender his resignation to Queen Elizabeth.
May will then enter Number 10 Downing Street as prime minister before the end of the day.
The shocks of the referendum result, Cameron's resignation, and disarray in the main opposition Labour Party have plunged Britain into its deepest political crisis in modern times.
Apart from the task of executing Brexit, May must try to unite a divided party and a nation in which many, on the evidence of the referendum, feel angry with the political elite and left behind by the forces of globalisation.
She is expected to immediately start putting together a new cabinet, a complex political balancing act in which she will try to satisfy opposing camps in her party.
Before the referendum, May had campaigned for Britain to remain in the EU, albeit in a low-key fashion. Since the vote, she has repeatedly said that "Brexit means Brexit" and her backers say she is determined to make the exit a success.
"Of course Theresa is going to want to make sure she's got a balanced ticket that represents the views of different parts of the party," cabinet minister Chris Grayling, who campaigned for Brexit and managed May's leadership campaign, told BBC radio.
MINISTRY FOR BREXIT
May has said she plans to set up a new government department to lead the process of quitting the EU which would be headed by someone who had campaigned for Brexit.
"That's very sensible. It will ensure confidence among those in the party who did campaign to leave that they have a champion who believes in what they campaigned for," Grayling added.
Financial markets, which had been extremely volatile since the referendum, reacted positively to news on Monday that May would become prime minister earlier than expected, with sterling making strong gains against the dollar and the euro.
Despite pressure from other EU capitals to quickly start negotiating the terms of Britain's exit, May has said she would not be rushed into it.
She is unlikely to trigger Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty - which will formally launch the process of separation and start the clock ticking on a two-year countdown to Britain's actual departure - until next year.
She is expected to promote women ministers to several senior roles, and Cameron's long-serving finance minister George Osborne could lose his job, according to media reports.
Prime Minister's Questions is usually a rowdy event, involving combative exchanges between Cameron and the leader of the main opposition Labour Party while lawmakers from both parties boo and cheer.
But with Cameron on his last day in the job and Labour mired in deep crisis, the atmosphere at this PMQs is likely to be very unusual.
After months of simmering discontent among Labour lawmakers with party leader Jeremy Corbyn, the conflict exploded into the open after the referendum when the vast majority of the lawmakers rejected his leadership, accusing him of failing to campaign vigorously enough for a Remain vote.
Corbyn has clung to his job, citing support from the party grassroots members, and the 116-year-old party is now locked in a bitter power tussle that risks destroying it.
Former minister Angela Eagle launched a leadership bid against him on Monday, and on Wednesday fellow Labour lawmaker Owen Smith also threw his hat in the ring.
*Copyright Reuters

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Nigeria's First Bank says overhauling loan book

Nigeria's biggest lender First Bank said it overhauling its credit risk management to ensure that its loan books are properly structured to avert further building up of Non-Performing Loan (NPL), its CEO said on Tuesday.
"The entire credit system is being overhaul, we are putting in place right process, we have recruited an experienced chief risk officer to help restructure the credit process while deploying technology to ensure that our risk management is very robust," Adesola Adeduntan said.
Adeduntan said it has centralised approving authority for loans to ensure that the process is more transparent, while quality of lending remain sustainable.
He said the lenders would focus more on the recovery of its huge outstanding loan and significantly bring down its cost to income ratio to improve on its profitability.
The bank had announced 119 billion naira ($420.87 million) loan loss provision last year and said it working hard to ensure the recovery of significant portion on the NPL.
Adeduntan, who spoke on the sideline of a press briefing in Lagos noted that loan growth this year will largely depend on the performance of the economy.
"We have our loan growth plan, but that plan is hinged on the performance of the economy. We would only transact when we have quality borrower as a counterparty. We will not lend for the sake of lending, because when you do that you are building up another round of NPL," Adeduntan said.
The commercial lender, a unit of FBN Holdings said it plans to double its customer base from around 10 million, while deploying technology to boost the use of digital platform by its customers to transact business.

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Power Supply Up By 140MW

The energy supply from the Nigerian Electricity System Operator (SO) of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) rose by 140 megawatts (Mw) on Saturday, information posted on the website of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) yesterday indicated. 
In its daily summary of the electricity market performance, the NESI noted that power supply to the 11 distribution companies (DisCos) rose from 2,762Mw on Friday to 2902Mw on Saturday.
During the period under review, energy loss as a result of gas constraints reduced marginally from 3,741Mw to 3736Mw, indicating a recovery of 5Mw.
Gas to power had been on the decrease owing to the spate of vandalism of the gas pipelines by militant groups in the Niger Delta.
The NESI added that there was no water management constraints, although report line constraint was rose by one Mw to 312Mw on Saturday.
The activities in the power sector, said NESI, led to a loss of an equivalent of N1.94b in the period under review.
It said: “On July 9 2016, average energy sent out was 2902 Mwh/hour (up by 140 Mwh/h). The reported gas constraint was 3736Mw. The reported line constraint was 312Mw. The water management constraint was 0Mw.The power sector lost the estimated equivalent of N1,943, 000, 000 on July 9 2016 due to constraints.”
In its Friday performance, NESI noted that on July 8, average energy sent out was 2762 Mwh/hour (down by 84 Mwh/h). The reported gas constraint was 3741MW. The reported line constraint was 311Mw. The water management constraint was 0Mw. The power sector lost the estimated equivalent of N1,945, 000, 000 on July 8 due to constraints.

*Copyright Nigerian Electricity Hub

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Nigeria to raise 120 billion naira in 2021, 2026, 2036 bond

Nigeria plans to raise 120 billion naira ($424.78 million) in local currency denominated bonds with maturities ranging between 5-year and 20-year on July 13, the Debt Management Office (DMO) said on Monday.
The debt office said in a notice that it will raise 40 billion naira at par in 2021 bond, while also raising 40 billion naira apiece in the 2026 and 2036 maturing bonds at the auction.
The 2026 and 2036 debt are a reopening of the previously issued paper, the debt office said.
Nigeria, Africa's biggest economy, said it would borrow around 900 billion naira from the local debt market to finance a portion of the estimated 2.2 trillion naira deficit in this year's budget.

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Bank of England meets to weigh up Brexit threat to UK economy

The Bank of England has kept its main interest rate at 0.5 percent for nearly 90 monthly meetings in a row, but that could change next week when it assesses the economic impact of Britain's historic vote to leave the European Union.
Governor Mark Carney has already signalled that the BoE will cut rates below their already record low levels over the summer and possibly resume its 375 billion-pound bond-buying programme.
That could cushion some of the hit from the vote, which has opened up the prospect of years of economic uncertainty as Britain reworks its ties with its main trading partners.
Most economists expect the Bank will wait until August, when it will have a better idea of the state of the economy, before it starts to pump more stimulus into the economy, a Reuters poll showed earlier this week.
But many investors are betting on action sooner than that, putting pressure on the Bank to act when it makes its monthly policy announcement for July at 1100 GMT on Thursday.
Jonathan Loynes, an economist with Capital Economics, said nervousness in markets - following the biggest drop by sterling of any of the world's four major currencies since the 1970s - means the BoE will want to avoid delay.
"We think the (Monetary Policy) Committee will recognise the dangers of disappointing market expectations and cut Bank Rate by 0.25 percent, before re-starting its quantitative easing programme in August," he said.
A few economists say the Bank will go further on Thursday. Alan Clarke, at Scotiabank, expects rates will be cut to zero. "What is the point of cutting rates by just 25 basis points? This isn't a fine-tuning operation. Why hold back?" he said.
Carney, who warned of the risks of a "material" Brexit hit to the economy before the June 23 referendum, has said the BoE will take an initial view on the impact next week and make a full assessment in August.
He has also signalled his opposition to following the lead of the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan by cutting rates below zero, something which could hurt the banking industry.
The BoE cut its Bank Rate to 0.5 percent in the depths of the financial crisis in March 2009, when Gordon Brown was still Britain's prime minister and Carney was running the Bank of Canada.
NO HARD DATA
So far, the BoE has scant evidence of the extent of the blow to the economy from Brexit. Surveys and comments from retailers have shown a slide in confidence among consumers who have driven Britain's recovery from the 2007-09 financial crisis.
But hard data covering the post-referendum period is not expected until late July.
At the same time, Carney and his fellow policymakers will have to balance the risk of a recession with the inflationary impact of sterling's slump since the referendum.
Economists say inflation could climb as high as 5 percent over the next two years, more than double the BoE's 2 percent target.
The BoE has other ways of propping up growth beyond cutting rates and reviving its bond-buying programme.
Philip Shaw, an economist with Investec, expected the Bank to extend at some point its Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS) which it launched after the financial crisis to encourage banks to lend to businesses and house-buyers.
"Then, depending on the extent of the downturn in the pace of activity, the onus on providing stimulus might move towards fiscal policy during the autumn," Shaw said.
Finance minister George Osborne responded to the Brexit vote by dropping his target of turning Britain's budget deficit into a surplus by 2020 and by saying he wanted to slash the country's corporation tax rate to below 15 percent.
As well as its decision on rates and QE, the BoE will publish details of its July discussions on Thursday. Its next news conference is not due until Aug. 4, when it will update its projections for the economy.
However, Carney is due to speak in parliament on Tuesday, giving him another chance to explain the BoE's next steps. Earlier this week the BoE tweaked capital rules for banks in the hope of encouraging them to lend more.

*Copyright Reuters News

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Nigerian interbank rate rises on cash shortage

Nigeria's interbank overnight lending rate rose sharply on Friday to an average of 15 percent from 5 percent a week ago, after central bank debited commercial lenders for treasury bills purchases.
Nigeria sold a total of 190 billion naira ($670 million) in treasury bills on Friday with maturities ranging from three months to one year, with yields broadly flat.
Market liquidity had opened at 167.26 billion naira on Friday, but the money market went into repo after the central bank sold treasury bills which significantly reduced level of cash in the banking system, pushing up cost of borrowing among banks.
"The market was trading around 10 percent for overnight placement prior to the sale of treasury bills, but rose sharply to an average of 15 percent shortly after the result of the auction was announced," one dealer said.
Nigeria's financial market was closed for trading from Tuesday to Thursday for a public holiday.
Traders said interest rate should open next week around same level of 15 percent but could ease a little with the expectations of injection of about 73 billion naira in matured treasury bills and payment of debt to government contractors.

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Two Nigerian banks under watch after Skye Bank's capital problem - CBN

Nigeria's central bank is monitoring one or two commercial lenders for liquidity after Skye Bank failed to meet prudential ratios, prompting it to replace its top executives this week, the director of banking supervision said on Friday.

Emefiele, CBN governor

Banking supervision director, Tokunbo Martins, said "one or two" commercial banks had failed liquidity tests but that they were not in the same situation as Skye.
The central bank on Monday said Skye Bank's liquidity ratio has been below the regulatory limit for a while and it had resorted to its rediscount window for support, prompting its top executives to resign.
Martins said the central bank was working with the banks to restore their ratios and sought to reassure depositors that there was no need to panic.
"We have our eyes on one or two other banks right now but they are not in a state of distress," she told a local television station.
"We have our eyes on all banks."
After replacing Skye's executives on Monday, depositors rushed to withdraw their funds. Martins said Skye was able to meet its obligations and that the central bank was providing support until the new management can bring in fresh funds.
She added that the banking industry was healthy.
Nigeria's central bank has the authority to remove bank executives, powers which it exercised during the 2007-09 global financial crisis when it sacked nine CEOs at banks which were deemed under-capitalised.
Excessive risk taking and last year's shifting of government funds from the banks into the central bank were partly responsible for the liquidity shortfalls, Martins said.
Skye's problems worsened after it used short-term funding to acquire Mainstreet Bank in 2014 but failed to attract fresh funds, she said.
Last year, the regulator gave three commercial banks until June 2016 to recapitalise after they failed to hit a minimum capital adequacy rate of 10 percent.

*First published by Reuters

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Nigeria replaces Skye Bank bosses over capital failures

Nigeria's central bank has replaced the chairman and chief executive of Skye Bank after it failed to meet minimum capital ratios, its governor said on Monday.

M.K Ahmad, New Skye chairman

The central bank said Skye Bank's non-performing loan ratio has been above the regulatory limit for a while and it had met with Skye's board to resolve the issue, governor Godwin Emefiele told a briefing.
Earlier, banking sources told Reuters that Skye's chief executive Timothy Oguntayo had resigned before the central bank announcement. He was the head of Skye Bank when it bought nationalised lender Mainstreet Bank in 2014.
"The basic issue is capital adequacy and liquidity. From what we see, adequacy ratio in the bank has been weakening and we don't want it to get to a point where depositors will be at risk," Emefiele said.
Skye Bank is designated as one of Nigeria's systemically important banks due to the size of total sector deposits it holds after the acquisition of Mainstreet Bank. This means it has to hold more capital.
Emefiele said the central bank had conducted a stress test and decided to replace the chairman, chief executive and all non-executive directors after they failed to recapitalise the bank.
He said Skye had been a net borrower from its rediscount window for "sometime." The central bank also appointed Tokunbo Abiru from rival First Bank to head Skye Bank.
"(Skye) bank is not in distress and remains able to continue banking activity," Emefiele said.
Nigeria's central bank has powers to remove bank executives and used them during the 2008/2009 global financial crisis when it sacked nine CEOs at banks which were undercapitalised.
Last year, the regulator gave three commercial banks until June 2016 to recapitalise after they failed to hit a minimum capital adequacy rate of 10 percent.
Skye Bank has been in talks with shareholders and new investors to raise 30 billion naira ($150 million). It suspended plans for a rights issue last year due to weak market conditions.
Emefiele said the overall banking industry was sound, despite weaknesses in the economy but that none of Nigeria's 21 commercial lenders were in distress.
Shares in Skye fell 9.5 percent.

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Nigerian interbank rate eases as market liquidity surges

Nigeria's interbank overnight rate fell to 5 percent on Friday from 15 percent a week ago, as cash from maturing treasury bills and payments by the government to contractors helped boost liquidity.
The increased cash flow left the money market with a 267.10 billion naira surplus balance on Friday, reversing the 300 billion naira shortfall of a week ago and pushing down the cost of borrowing among commercial lenders.
"There was repayment of about 115.03 billion naira in matured treasury bills at the Open Market Operations (OMO) on Thursday, while the release of an unspecified amount of cash payment to government contractors also boosted system liquidity," one dealer said.
Many banks had approached the central bank's discount window to borrow short-term cash last week to enable them meet obligations and ease liquidity pressures, traders said.
Traders said the expected release of capital spending by the federal government to reinflate the economy should inject more cash into the money market in the coming days, which should impact positively on the interbank rate.

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BMW to develop driverless car technology with Intel, Mobileye

BMW is teaming up with Intel and Mobileye to develop new technology for the auto industry that could put self-driving cars on the road by around 2021.

BMW car

The alliance highlights a shift in the dynamics of research and development in the car industry, which until recently saw automakers largely dictating terms for suppliers to deliver pre-defined technologies at specified volumes and prices.
Now carmakers are increasingly striking partnerships with technology firms, seeking to harness their expertise in areas including machine learning and mapping as they race against Silicon Valley companies such as Google, Tesla and Apple to develop driverless vehicles.
"Highly autonomous cars and everything they connect to will require powerful and reliable electronic brains to make them smart enough to navigate traffic and avoid accidents,” Intel Chief Executive Brian Krzanich said on Friday at a joint news conference announcing the alliance.
The three companies said their new platform would be made available to multiple carmakers and they expected vehicles with highly and fully-automated driving would be brought into mass production by 2021.
Sophisticated cruise control systems already enable "hands off" driving as cameras and computers allow cars to automatically brake, steer and accelerate in traffic at low speeds. But drivers are required to stay in control.
Now BMW, Intel and Mobileye will develop cars with even higher levels of automation described as "eyes off," "mind off," and "driver off". This requires much more computing power and software know-how, forcing traditional carmakers to collaborate more closely with technology specialists.
Both industries see huge revenue opportunities in the market for autonomous vehicles, although it is unclear how many drivers will be prepared to relinquish control and how quickly laws will be put in place to allow fully autonomous vehicles on the roads.
There are also legal complications over who is responsible when a crash occurs. On Thursday, the driver of a Tesla Model S car, operating in Autopilot mode, was killed in a collision with a truck in the United States, prompting an investigation by federal highway safety regulators.
When asked about the crash, BMW CEO Harald Krueger said: "The accident is very sad .... We believe today the technologies are not ready for series production," he added, explaining the alliance had not forecast that until 2021.
"For the BMW group, safety comes first," he said.
As part of the new alliance, Intel, the world's largest computer chip maker which has been looking to expand into the automotive electronics market, will supply the microprocessors - or central processing units - to control an array of sensors.
Auto camera and software maker Mobileye will supply its Road Experience Management (REM) technology and make its latest EyeQ5 chip available to be deployed on Intel computing platforms.
The three companies said they would demonstrate their technology in a prototype in the near future.

*First published by Reuters

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