New chief of Japan's SMBC bank "actively studying" acquisition of US bank

The new head of Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp (SMBC) said it is "actively studying" an acquisition of a U.S. bank, as part of efforts to seek a reliable dollar funding source for future growth.Securing cheap, stable dollar funding has been a major challenge for Japanese banks, which have been aggressively expanding overseas as they have been hit by ultra-low interest rates and weak loan demand at home for years. "As we expand globally, a...

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Nigeria FX buffer at 2-weeks low as black market naira weakens

Nigeria's forex reserves fell to a two-week low and the naira eased on the black market on Friday after the central bank pledged to step up dollar sales but also said it would announce a new currency rate for retail exchange bureaus next week.The central bank on Tuesday set a rate of 362 naira for exchange bureaus to sell the U.S. currency to consumers, an 11 percent rise in the local currency from the last setting in January.  The bank, which...

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MTN has paid 30 bln naira in part settlement of Nigerian fine -company source

 MTN has made a payment of 30 billion naira ($98 million) to the Nigerian government in part settlement of a 330 billion naira fine imposed on the telecoms group for not disconnecting unregistered SIM cards, an MTN source told Reuters on Thursday. Africa's largest telecoms company has already paid 80 billion naira of the total amount owed, the source said. The fine is due for payment in six instalments over three years, MTN has said.MTN...

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IMF asks Nigeria to dump multiple exchange rates, lift forex restrictions

The International Monetary Fund urged Nigeria on Thursday to lift its remaining foreign exchange restrictions and scrap its system of multiple exchange rates in order to revive its economy, which is in its first recession in 25 years. The recommendation came in the Washington-based Fund's regular assessment of the country's economy. A staff report, an accompanying document seen by Reuters and addressed to the IMF's executive board, outlined a raft...

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Nigeria to send oil governance bill to Senate on April 25

Nigeria will send its oil governance bill to the Senate on April 25, a spokesman said on Thursday, the latest step in efforts to overhaul the energy sector in Africa's largest economy.The legislation is part of proposed reforms that make up the sprawling Petroleum Industry Bill, which has been in discussion for over a decade and redrafted many times but has yet to be passed into law. President Muhammadu Buhari, who took office in May 2015, made...

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S.Africa's Zuma considers stepping down ahead of tenure expiry day

Jacob Zuma is considering offering to step down next year, at least 12 months before his term as South African president ends, under a deal with opponents in his ruling party that would see Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan leave office now, two senior party sources said.Zuma is due to be replaced as party leader at an African National Congress (ANC) party conference in December after serving his allocated two terms, but was expected to remain the...

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Nigeria raises $500 mln via 15-year Eurobond with 7.5 pct yield

Nigeria raised $500 million by issuing a 15-year Eurobond on Wednesday with a yield of 7.5 percent, the finance ministry said, helping it plug a huge budget deficit in Africa's largest economy.To revive the economy, which slipped into recession last year for the first time in 25 years, the government plans to increase spending by almost 20 percent this year, leaving it with a budget shortfall of 2.36 trillion naira ($7.7 billion).The money from the...

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Nigerian central bank approves licence for development bank

Nigeria's central bank has approved a licence for the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN), the finance ministry said on Wednesday.The bank aims to support small-scale businesses with loans of varying lengths at lower interest rates than currently available as the country contends with its first recession in 25 years. The finance ministry said approval for the licence was subject to meeting the minimum capital requirement of 100 billion naira ($326...

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Nigeria to sell 235 bln naira treasury bills on April 6

Nigeria plans to sell 234.89 billion naira ($765.99 million) of short-dated treasury bills at an auction on April 6, the central bank said on Wednesday.The bank said it plans to sell 35 billion naira of three-month debt, 33.49 billion of six-month bills and 166.40 billion of one-year notes, using a Dutch auction system. Payment will be due the day after the auction. Nigeria's central bank issues treasury bills twice a month to finance the budget...

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US shale making a comeback at $50 a barrel dents crude oil market's outlook

By Harshal BarotOil prices ended lower for the fourth week in last five due to the overhang of inventories and consequent reduction of speculative long positions. While the compliance to output cuts has been nearly 100 per cent from the Opec side, relative non-compliance of Non-Opec coupled with steadily climbing US production is keeping prices under pressure.The Opec and non-Opec meet over the weekend failed to show an agreement about extending...

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Nigeria sets FX bureau rate as central bank aligns retail naira quotes

Nigeria's central bank has set a new naira rate for retail exchange bureaus to sell dollars to consumers, the head of the bureau association told Reuters on Tuesday.The new rate of 362 per dollar is an 11 percent rise from the last setting in January and will bring the selling price at bureaus close to another consumer rate set on Monday. Nigeria has several exchange rates -- the official one, the black market, a rate for Muslim pilgrims going...

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Nigeria stock market deals fell 22 pct last month amid naira crisis

The value of trading on Nigeria's stock market dropped by 22.3 percent to 74.1 billion naira ($236 mln) in February from a month before, the stock exchange said on Tuesday, as foreign investors kept to the sidelines.Nigeria is battling a currency crisis brought on by low prices for oil, its main export, and now operates multiple currency regimes dominated by central bank intervention, making it difficult to price assets.It has several exchange rates...

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UK raises prospect of direct rule for N.Ireland if talks fail

Britain will consider all options for Northern Ireland including direct rule from London if politicians there fail to form a regional government in the next three weeks, the minister for the province said on Tuesday.Northern Ireland politics has been in crisis since Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein pulled out of government in January, sparking a March 2 election that ended the majority pro-British unionists had enjoyed in the province for almost...

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WhatsApp must not hand over encryption keys to security agents

A couple of years ago I visited Nigeria in the middle of an election. I was worried I might get kidnapped by Boko Haram. But upon arrival at Abuja, where a never-ending line of soldiers inspected my passport as if it were a bomb, I quickly realised that terrorists aren't nearly as frightening as a paranoid government. The state has far greater capability than its tinpot opponents.It always wants more, too. In the wake of Adrian Ajao's attack on Westminster,...

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Nigeria's AMCON recovers 682 bln naira of bad debt in six years

Nigeria's state-owned AMCON has recovered 681.5 billion naira over the past six years from debtors in the form of cash, properties and shares, it said on Monday.The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) was set up in 2010 to absorb banking sector-wide non-performing loans in exchange for government bonds, after the central bank rescued nine weak lenders from collapse in 2009. But pressure has been building up again, with loan books...

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Pressure grows on Nigeria's central bank governor

 Earlier this year, an open letter in the Nigerian media from a group of businessmen attacked the "shameful" record of central bank governor Godwin Emefiele and demanded that he should go. With Africa's largest economy in recession for the first time in 25 years, the letter reflects growing anger directed at Emefiele, whose insistence on keeping the naira artificially high is believed to have worsened Nigeria's oil-price induced slump.Three...

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Nigeria sets naira rate for foreign school and medical fees

Nigeria's central bank on Monday said it will sell the dollar to consumers needing to pay foreign school and medical fees at 360 naira after the local currency firmed sharply on the black market.It amount to an increase of arund 4 percent since it was last set.Nigeria has at least five exchange rates -- the black market, the official one, a rate for Muslim pilgrims going to Saudi Arabia, one for school and medical fees abroad, and a retail rate set...

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Goldman Sachs says OPEC should be wary of extending production cuts

Goldman Sachs on Sunday said an extension of the joint OPEC and non-OPEC oil production cut is not warranted unless supply and demand fundamentals deteriorate.The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other major producers should be wary of extending the cuts unless there is a weakening of global oil demand or output from Libya or Nigeria increases, the bank said in a note from analysts led by Damien Courvalin. "Our assessment...

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IMF says Nigeria needs urgent reform-document

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is expected to warn Nigeria its economy needs urgent reform, according to a report seen by Reuters that could delay talks over $1.4 billion in much-needed international loans. President Buhari The Washington-based fund will urge Nigeria, a major oil producer, to introduce immediate changes to its exchange rate policy and say its recent reform plan is not enough to drag Africa's biggest economy out of recession,...

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Nigeria FX traders widen spreads after black market naira rally

The gap between what traders bid and offer for Nigeria's naira on the black market has widened following a series of central bank interventions on the official market.Traders are trying to hedge against losses after the currency firmed sharply during previous session. The central bank has been intervening on the official market in recent weeks to narrow the official currency spread with the black market rate. It offered to sell $100 million in currency...

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Kenya sells bond over mobile phones in world first

Kenya began selling a government bond exclusively via mobile phones on Thursday, a world first aimed at expanding the pool of investors in a country that needs money for infrastructure projects and where many people don't have a bank account. The three-year bond, called M-Akiba, can be bought by phone users without any need for a bank account. The issue is likely to be monitored by treasuries in other emerging economies, most of which would like...

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Zenith Bank shelves plans to raise 100 bln naira due to weak economy

Nigeria's Zenith Bank has shelved plans to raise 100 billion naira ($318 million) via a combination of bonds and share sales due to weak capital markets, it said on Thursday.The bank had expected market conditions to improve when it announced plans to seek approval for the funds last month, said Zenith's head of investor relations Michael Anyimah, but the lender cancelled them due to the struggling economy.  Ovia, Zenith Bank chairman Africa's...

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Nigeria issues new retail savings bond to raise $7 million

Nigeria's debt office said on Thursday it raised 2.07 billion naira ($6.6 million) from a new two-year savings bond intended for retail investors.Nigeria forecasts a budget deficit of 2.36 trillion naira in 2017, half of which it aims to fund through domestic borrowing. The Debt Management Office (DMO) has said it offered the bond to help broaden the country's funding base. It will be available for purchase on a monthly basis and have a maximum...

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African famine should be Canada's moment to lead

Robert Rotberg is the Fulbright Distinguished Professor of International Relations at the University of Sao Paulo, BrazilAt the very moment when acute hunger has made hardscrabble South Sudanese, Somalis and Yemenis the world's most vulnerable people – in their millions – so the rise of xenophobic populism in Europe and the United States has made the provision of meaningful assistance much less likely.President Donald Trump's ham-fisted retreat from...

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Nigeria's Senate approves new $500 million Eurobond sale

Nigeria's upper house approved the issuance of a new $500 million Eurobond on Wednesday, the chamber's deputy president said, to help fund the budget deficit at a time Africa's biggest economy faces a shortage of hard currency. Senate president, Saraki The government, which plans to increase public spending by almost 20 percent this year, sought the go-ahead for a new issue after raising $1 billion from international debt markets last month.The...

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Nigeria naira at six-month high on black market, traders say

The Nigerian naira gained 1.1 percent to a six-month high of 430 per dollar on the black market on Wednesday, traders said. The central bank has been intervening on the official market to try to narrow the currency spread with the black market rate, which was 520 to the naira a month ago. The naira was quoted at 307.50 on the interbank market on Wednesday. "The regular intervention by the central bank has increased liquidity in the official market....

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Nigeria central banksees improve naira exchange rate

Nigeria's central bank kept the main interest rate at 14 percent as expected on Tuesday and pledged to close the gap between the official and black-market exchange rate.Central bank governor Godwin Emefiele said inflationary pressures were continuing unabated while Africa's biggest economy was undergoing its first recession in 25 years, justifying the rate decision.All but one of 13 economists surveyed in a Reuters poll had expected the bank to keep...

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Nigeria orders contractors back to work in Niger Delta within 30 days

Nigeria has given contractors 30 days to resume delayed development projects in the Niger Delta oil region or face prosecution, the presidency said on Tuesday.The government has been trying to build new roads and launch other projects to drag the region out of poverty and create jobs, aiming to give local people alternatives to joining the militants attacking oil facilities. The government has "directed that the list of all contractors who have...

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Ivory Coast to lower mid-crop cocoa farmer price - CCC

Top cocoa grower Ivory Coast will lower its guaranteed price for farmers for the April to September mid-crop due to a sharp drop in world cocoa futures prices, the marketing board said in a note to producers on Tuesday. The farmer price, which is based on the average price attained by the Coffee and Cocoa Council (CCC) during forward sales, was fixed at 1,100 CFA francs ($1.80) per kg for the current main crop. After several years of steadily...

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Nigeria weakens naira in attempt to close black market spread

The Nigerian central bank has weakened the naira by 0.6 percent in the last two weeks through dollar interventions on the official market aimed at narrowing the spread with the black market, traders said on Tuesday.The naira was trading at 307.50 on the interbank market on Tuesday, almost 30 percent weaker than on the unapproved retail market where it was quoted at 435 per dollar. The central bank had been selling dollars at 305 levels since...

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U.S. bans large electronics from 10 airports, mainly in Middle East

The Trump administration confirmed Tuesday it is imposing new restrictions on electronic devices carried by travelers coming to the United States from 10 airports mainly in the Middle East and North Africa in response to unspecified terror threats.The Department of Homeland Security will require passengers coming to the United States from airports in Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Morocco and Qatar to check electronic...

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