Author: Albert Savana

The resources mobilized by the decentralized financial systems (DFS) of the West African Monetary Union (WAMU) falling under article 44 of the law regulating DFS (level of activity reaching a threshold of 2 billion FCFA of outstanding of deposits and loans) amounted to CFAF 1,501.0 billion (€ 2.251 billion) as of December 31, 2019, up 9.9%, according to data from the General Secretariat of the Banking Commission, the body supervision of banking activity based in Abidjan. These resources are made up of deposits and loans (66.6%), net equity (27.2%) and other resources (6.2%), against 65.3%, 26.9% and 7, respectively, 7%…

The net profit of the Atelier du Meuble Interior (SAM) Company, specializing in the manufacture, assembly, assembly and marketing of all types of furniture and decorative items, fell sharply by 88.79% at the end of the first half of 2020 compared to the same period of the year 2019, announced the leaders of this Tunisian company based in La Marsa, north-east of Tunis. This result fell from 1.618 million dinars on June 30, 2019 to 181,423 dinars on June 30, 2020, a plunge of 1.437 million dinars. As for the company’s revenues, they fell by 33.46% to 6.884 million dinars…

Global transaction activity in the fintech space remained strong in the first half of 2020, despite the absence of mega-mergers and acquisitions. The uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus crisis has prompted investors to focus on early stage companies, which have been successful in raising significant funds through their venture capital, private equity and merger operations and ‘acquisition. According to data presented by StockApps.com, the three largest fintech deals in the first half of 2020 reached a value of more than $ 5 billion. Gojek’s $ 3bn Funding for Largest Fintech Deal in H1 2020 In March, Gojek, the Indonesian rideshare, delivery…

Total is reducing its exposure to fossil fuels. The French group, which presented its strategy and outlook to investors on Wednesday, announced that it would gradually increase its investments in renewable energies and electricity in order to reduce its dependence on petroleum products and to transform itself into a “multi-group -energy ”. The French energy group has also indicated that its dividend was “sustainable” with a barrel of oil at 40 dollars. To transform into a multi-energy group, Total intends to increase its energy production from liquefied natural gas (LNG) and electricity, “the two fastest growing markets” according to the…

African companies, move on, the state will join you! 60 years after independence, African unity remains a goal towards which peoples tend faster than politicians. Beneath its utopian exterior, the idea of united African companies can be baptized from the inside by entrepreneurs who are united and eager to build another destiny for Africa. Here’s why and how. In 60 years, the state failure in Africa has been widely documented. The betrayal of politicians continues to hit the headlines without undermining Africans’ desire to be an entrepreneur. While waiting for the real state, the time has come for the private…

DZEMA AYESSA-NDINGA APPOINTED DEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR OF TERMINAUX DU BASSIN DU CONGO IN BRAZZAVILLE Dzema Ayessa-Ndinga has been appointed Deputy Managing Director of Terminaux du Bassin du Congo (TBC), effective from 1 October 2020. A Congolese national (Congo-Brazzaville), Dzema Ayessa-Ndinga currently heads Bolloré Transport & Logistics’ agency in Brazzaville. He is also responsible for overseeing the business activities of Bluecongo and Havas Média Congo. Dzema Ayessa-Ndinga joined the Bolloré Group in Congo-Brazzaville in 2014. A graduate of the Estic-Gecom de Pointe-Noire and Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Pointe-Noire (ESC) business schools, he has solid expertise in accounting and business management.…

Fitch Ratings has assigned African Risk Capacity Limited (ARC Ltd), the commercial subsidiary of the African Risk Capacity Group (ARC Group), an ‘Insurer Financial Strength (IFS) Rating of ‘BBB+’ and a ‘Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of ‘BBB’ with a stable outlook. Announcing the rating on its official website, after having earlier communicated same to the ARC Group, Fitch indicated that “the ratings reflect the commitment and credit quality of ARC’s sponsors, as well as the company’s good business profile, very strong capitalisation and leverage….” Continuing, Fitch stated that, ARC Ltd’s capital position is very strong, and a key strength…

The Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (TDB) is pleased to announce the appointment of Tim Turner as Senior Advisor to the CEO and Executive Team. Mr. Turner will be advising TDB on various matters including partnerships, resource mobilisation, strategy and risk management. Mr. Turner comes to TDB with an illustrious career in international and African development finance, and a successful long track record at the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) from which he retired recently, and where he served with distinction in several capacities, notably as Chief Risk Officer (2013-2020) and earlier, as Director of the Private…

No social project but rather invective and personnal  attacks. This first debate between Donald Trump, blue tie with red stripes and tight jaw, and his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, tie with thin black and white stripes, reveals a little what Tocqueville said 180 years ago, in “On democracy in America ”, namely that the system of representative democracy, dictatorship of the majority, does not necessarily lead the best to the top and that the Americans, pragmatists, are more occupied with commerce than with science and literature. Isn’t Donald Trump the caricatured incarnation of this great nation and Joe Biden, the…

ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ: ACIW), a leading global provider of real-time digital payment software and solutions, and Mastercard, the global multi-rail payments technology company, today announced that they will partner to provide a wide range of real-time payment solutions globally. They will initially collaborate to offer best-in-class central infrastructure, payments localization and access solutions to central banks, scheme operators, financial institutions, payment service providers, and other organizations launching real-time payments initiatives. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200929005265/en/ The real-time account-to-account payments market continues to quickly expand. Prime Time for Real-Time — a recent study analyzing global…

African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), the pan-African multilateral EXIM bank, announces $100 million financing to enable its Member States to procure COVID-19 related medical resources through the Africa Medical Supplies Platform (AMSP). The funding is available to African governments to acquire medical supplies through the AMSP in the form of pre-approved overdraft limits for each African government. This facility quickens access to critical COVID-19 containment and therapeutic supplies by bridging short term funding gaps that African states may be experiencing. Launched in June, the AMSP was developed by the African Union’s Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), Afreximbank…

The African Risk Capacity Limited (ARC Ltd), the commercial subsidiary of African Risk Capacity Group (ARC Group), has announced a partnership agreement with Pula to deliver best-in-class agriculture index insurance products to protect African farmers from climatic risks. Every farming season, African farmers are exposed to a wide range of climate risks including drought, excessive rainfall, pests and diseases, and several other perils that negatively affect their yields. As an aggregator specialising in meso and micro parametric insurance in agriculture, Pula provides the levers to connect participating farmers with regional insurance companies and global reinsurance firms to underwrite such risks.…

By Cheikhna Bounajim Cissé, author of “FCFA – Face Cachée de la Finance Africaine” (BoD, 2019), analyzes the challenges and contours of the future single currency of ECOWAS. Former Malian President Modibo Keïta was a visionary. Two years after the independence of his country proclaimed on September 22, 1960, he made the choice of monetary sovereignty. Mali abandoned the CFA franc to mint its own currency, the Malian franc. This monetary experience could have been beneficial to the country and to the entire continent. Unfortunately, trapped by internal divisions and France’s fierce determination not to let the Guinean precedent recur,…

As part of the “Green Terminal” environmental certification programme initiated by Bolloré Ports, Abidjan Terminal, the operator of the container terminal at the Port of Abidjan, has taken delivery of two new all-electric towing vehicles. With the delivery, Abidjan Terminal now has handling machines with zero CO2 emissions and sound pollution. A product of the synergy between the Bolloré Group, via Bolloré Ports and Blue Solutions, and the manufacturer Gaussin, the electric towing vehicles will be operated by Abidjan Terminal employees having been trained on the commissioning, driving and maintenance of the equipment. Powered by LMP@ batteries by Blue Solutions,…

LAGOS, Nigeria–(BUSINESS WIRE/AETOSWire)– Africa Finance Corporation (“AFC” or “the Corporation”), the leading infrastructure solutions provider in Africa, today announces the successful issuance of its inaugural CHF150 Million Reg S senior unsecured benchmark Green Bond (the “Bond”) under the Corporation’s US$5 Billion Global Medium-Term Note (“GMTN”) programme , maturing 2025 (“the CHF150 million Green Bond ” or “the bond issuance”). The issuance is also the Corporation’s third CHF-denominated bond. The Bond has a tenor of five years, carries a coupon of 1.205% and is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange. The Bond is rated A3 by Moody’s Investor Services, in line…

Credit ratings agency highlights strong solvency and liquidity, bolstered by ongoing and expected capital increases The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) announces that Fitch Ratings has affirmed the Bank’s long-term Issuer Default Ratings (IDR) at ‘BBB-‘ with a stable outlook. The agency also affirmed the Bank’s Short-Term IDR at ‘F3’ and senior unsecured debt at ‘BBB-‘. Fitch highlighted that Afreximbank’s ‘BBB-‘ rating is driven by its intrinsic features, including solvency and liquidity, and adding that the ongoing and expected capital increases support the resilience of the bank’s solvency during the COVID-19 pandemic. The agency noted that “the strong capitalization is underpinned…

British magazine The Times has just selected UBA Chairman Tony Elumelu, who is now one of the world’s 100 most influential people. The boss of the pan-African bank is nominated in the category of World Leaders and “is celebrated for his pugnacity in facing challenges, his spirit of innovation, his ability to create added value and his desire to eradicate poverty on the African continent through the empowerment of young people ”, emphasizes Tony Elumelu’s collaborators. For them, he is one of the main proponents of “Africapitalism”, a belief that the African private sector can and must play a leading…

According to Fox News, as the White House hosts a ‘Made in America’ event and Trump battles with Biden for the ‘buy American’ mantle. Meanwhile, German courts are issuing baseless verdicts against US patents, allowing German companies to skip payments meant for US taxpayers. Germany’s judicial rulings mirror China’s current behavior towards American inventors. A recent decision made by Germany’s Supreme Court raises the question of whether German courts are biased against non-German companies, particularly against American companies. Enovsys is a US-based company, and even though many are unaware, its Location Services and Privacy technology are widely used by most mobile devices today. This technology was…

The new project will be deployed on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure for high-performance computing power to run the bank’s IT workloads while providing real-time elasticity Amana Bank, a leading Islamic bank in Somalia today announced that it has selected iMAL, the AAOIFI-certified core banking platform from Path Solutions to replace its legacy IT system and deploy a single, cloud-based digital banking platform to underpin its banking operations. This is Path Solutions’ third win in Somalia after Premier Bank and MyBank Ltd. The company went through a lengthy competitive bidding to which all international suppliers were invited, before being selected as Amana Bank’s preferred technology…

African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has disbursed US$200 million to Zenith Bank Plc Nigeria under its Pandemic Trade Impact Mitigation Facility (PATIMFA). The funds will assist Zenith Bank to continue to maintain foreign currency trade flows impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. They will also allow Zenith Bank to on-lend to eligible sub-borrowers involved in the manufacture and supply of medical resources needed to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Speaking on the facility, the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive of Zenith Bank, Mr. Ebenezer Onyeagwu said: “The Afreximbank facility undoubtedly underscores the confidence reposed in Zenith Bank, and it will enable the bank to…

Credit rating underpinned by Afreximbank’s strong status as one of the largest Multilateral Development Banks within the African region The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), Africa’s foremost multilateral trade finance institution, announces that Global Credit Rating (GCR) has affirmed its international scale long-term and short-term issuer ratings of A- and A2, respectively, with a stable outlook. In addition, GCR has affirmed the international scale long-term issue rating on the Bank’s US$5 billion Euro Medium Term Note (EMTN) programme of A-, with a stable outlook. GCR notes that Afreximbank’s ratings are supported by its “strong status as one of the largest Multilateral…

Three-year revolving global credit facility will strengthen African agricultural networks and bolster the continent’s food security The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), Africa’s foremost multilateral trade finance institution, has approved a $400-million revolving global credit facility agreement for the Export Trading Group (ETG), one of the largest and fastest-growing integrated agricultural conglomerates in Africa. The agreement will enable ETG  to keep playing its vital role in the agri-foods supply chain of efficiently connecting African farmers to markets, as well as expanding access to key inputs to boost agricultural productivity in a continent with tremendous but yet unrealized potential. According to Afreximbank’s…

The Board of Directors of Ecobank Tanzania Limited is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Charles Asiedu as Managing Director of Ecobank. Charles has been Managing Director of Ecobank Malawi for the last seven years and joined Ecobank 21 years ago. He started as an Internal Controller and Auditor in Ecobank Ghana, before being promoted to Remedial Manager in its Risk Management Department. He then transferred to Ecobank Group as Group Financial Control Officer prior to becoming the Group Financial and Regulatory Reporting Manager. After this he was appointed as Executive Director, Corporate Bank for Ecobank Malawi. Charles said:…

African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) today released its unaudited financial statements for the six months ended 30 June 2020. Despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on socio-economic conditions globally, the Bank saw its Net Income rise by 10% from US$137.63 million in June 2019 to US$150.75 million in June 2020, mainly as a result of strong growth in net fee and commission income, which rose by 134%. Net interest income for the period grew by 17% to US$285.71 million (2019: US$243.93 million). The Net Interest Margin improved from 3.3% to 3.7%, driven by lower costs of funds as interest rates…

For the first time in the history of the African Development Bank, its Annual Meetings will be held virtually to comply with the COVID-19 pandemic-related social-distancing guidelines. The Governors’ Dialogue and the election of a president will be top of the agenda of the upcoming Meetings scheduled for 26-27 August 2020. This year, which marks the 55th meeting of the Bank’s Board of Governors and the 46th Annual Meeting of the African Development Fund, the Bank’s concessional arm, has the added significance of being an election year for the Bank’s president. The incumbent, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, is running as the…

 The 2020 Final Conference takes place on August 25 via videoconference Trophée Babacar NDIAYE is pleased to announce that the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, HE Mr. Abdel Fattah al-SISI accepted the Super Prize Great Builder – Trophée Babacar NDIAYE 2020 which was awarded to him by the Selection Committee at the end of the Inaugural Conference of July 13, 2020. The General Commission was informed of this important news through diplomatic way. The General Commission is delighted with this reaction of President Abdel Fattah al- SISI and reiterates its very warm congratulations. The General Commission also congratulates…

UK fintech Mode announces the launch of its new instant Bitcoin transfers feature, as part of its continued mission to open up access to the exciting world of digital assets. The free feature allows Mode users to seamlessly sync their contacts on the Mode app, and send instant Bitcoin transfers to other Mode users, anytime, anywhere. Mode already provides an easy way for everyday investors to own a piece of Bitcoin, by enabling them to instantly deposit GBP funds via Open Banking and Faster Payments, and use those funds to buy from as little as £50 worth of Bitcoin in…

Kribi Conteneurs Terminal (KCT) welcomed the CMA CGM Cendrillon ship on 17 August 2020. Measuring 334 metres long and with a capacity of 8,645 TEUs, the vessel inaugurated the direct Asia-Africa (ASAF) line at the Kribi deep-water port. The Asia-West Africa Service (ASAF), operated by the CMA CGM shipping company, is one of the major services offered by ship owners in Asia-to-Africa container transport. Through the service, and in partnership with Maersk and Nile Dutch, CMA CGM will extend the reach of the container terminal at the port of Kribi, thus strengthening its position as a leading operator in the…

The excellence and palpable impact of TDB’s trade finance work in the region has once again been recognized. The Bank was honored earlier this month by Global Trade Review’s (GTR) Leaders in Trade Awards as ‘Best Trade Finance Bank in Kenya’ and ‘Best Trade Finance Bank in Ethiopia’ for the year 2020. Nairobi being TDB’s operational hub, the ‘Best Trade Finance Bank in Kenya’ award recognizes not only the Bank’s work in Kenya, but also the efforts it has been deploying across its various member states. Similarly, the ‘Best Trade Finance Bank in Ethiopia’ award is a tribute to TDB’s…

With 469 million mobile money users throughout the continent, including more than 50 million new accounts created in 2019, Africa is the world’s most dynamic region in terms of mobile money transactions. In 2019, the sub-Saharan region recorded a total of 23.8 billion mobile transactions, amounting to more than $456 billion, and the Covid-19 health crisis has had a catalytic effect on the expansion of the mobile money market. To mitigate the spread of the virus, governments encouraged people to use mobile payments to reduce physical contacts. Many central banks, such as the Bank of Tanzania, have taken steps to…