Lebanon’s Jammal Trust Bank has been forced to wind itself down after being hit last month by U.S. sanctions for allegedly helping to fund the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement.
Jammal Trust Bank denied the U.S. allegations in August after the bank and its subsidiaries were hit with sanctions, accused of helping to fund the Hezbollah movement in Lebanon. “Despite its sound financial situation ... and its full compliance with banking regulations, the (bank) was forced to take the decision to liquidate itself in full coordination with the central bank,” Jammal Trust said in a statement.
The central banks of the UAE and Saudi Arabia lowered interest rates to make it cheaper for companies and individuals to borrow money.
The central banks cut rates by 25 basis points effective on September 19th, for the second time this year after the US Federal Reserve lowered its key interest rates. The Central Bank of the UAE said that interest rates on certificates of deposits as well as repo rates on short-term borrowing have been decreased.
The cuts in borrowing rates in the region come as both the UAE and Saudi currencies are pegged to the US dollar.
The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), says it has signed an agreement with the Central Bank of Tunisia for a $500 million Tunisia-Africa Trade and Investment Promotion Programme.
Obi Emekekwue, Afreximbank’s Director and Global Head of Communications and Events Management who said this in a statement on Tuesday, stated that Oramah signed the agreement on behalf of Afreximbank, while Marouan Elabbasi, Governor of the Central Bank of Tunisia signed for his institution.
The Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT) and the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) signed a memorandum of understanding on September 5th, 2019 in Kiev that aimes at developing a framework for cooperation and knowledge exchange in various fields.
The areas covered by the agreement include monetary policy, exchange regulation, communication and transformation.
The South African ban “Standard Bank” has launched a US$500mn syndicated loan facility for activities including trade finance. The loan, which will have a 36-month tenor, will be used for general corporate purposes including trade finance and be launched to a selected group of international financial institutions, who have not been named.
Citi, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, London Branch and Standard Chartered will act as coordinators, bookrunners and mandated lead arrangers to arrange the US$500mn or more facility.
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has launched and priced a $2 billion (R29bn) three-year Global Benchmark bond due September 16, 2022, its first US dollar benchmark of the year. Launched on September 11, the bond issue is the Bank’s second Global Benchmark of 2019, following a €1bn (R16bn) 10-year priced in March 2019.
With this transaction, the Bank has now raised $4.4bn in 2019 to date and executed 61 percent of its borrowing program for the year.
The World Bank has approved a $450 million loan to Tanzania signaling the release of the first tranche of funds to the East African nation that were frozen last year because of concern over government policies.
Those concerns included passing a law that made it illegal to question official statistics and expelling pregnant girls from public schools. The government amended the statistics law in June to remove the threat of jail. But has yet to announce changes to the rules on teenage pregnancy.
The African Development Bank (AfDB) signed two grants for $28.8 million for road and water supply projects to improve livelihoods in Somalia and boost resilience.
The bank noted that the grants confirm sustained efforts, especially by the African Development Fund, to tackle fragility in the Horn of Africa. They comprise $11.99 million for the Kismayo Baidoa urban water project and $16.86 million to partly finance a $66.7 million road.
Egypt signed on Wednesday, September 11 an agreement with the World Bank to finance the second phase of the Social Security Nets Support Project, Takaful and Karama, by $500 million.
The agreement was signed by Minister of Investment and International Cooperation Sahar Nasr and Regional Director of the World Bank in Egypt Marina Wes as part of a $8 billion portfolio between Egypt and the World Bank.
South African e-wallet provider My-iMali has launched an Uprise.Africa crowdfunding campaign in a bid to raise ZAR24 million (US$1.6 million) in order to expand its business. It has developed the BxChange E-Wallet App, an affordable, easy to use and convenient digital wallet that enables customers to make transfers to bank accounts, and top-up or purchase prepaid products and services.
The Middle East’s FinTech companies will raise more than $2 billion (Dh7.34bn) in venture capital by 2022 given the rapid growth of the sector and the accelerating uptake of technology across the region, according to the Milken Institute Centre for Financial Markets.
The acceleration in financing to over $2bn will come from 465 FinTech firms in the Middle East, t, according to the institute's estimates.
As part of BMCE Bank Of Africa's (BBOA) exclusive offers to companies in terms of Trade Finance and Cash Management operations, the bank has set up a new portal for remote banking operations: BMCE Business Online.
This portal is of an advisory and transactional nature, offering precise reporting tools and providing complete remote management of the company's accounts with a range of domestic and international services.
The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) is reportedly planning to launch a $50-million to $100-million fintech fund by early next year. The CBE aims to transform Egypt into a regional centre for electronic financial services.
Like the existing solutions already unveiled by other operators, inwi money will allow each holder of a mobile phone, regardless of his telecom operator, to have a mobile wallet, attached to his phone number. The customer can now fund or withdraw money from his wallet in the points of sale approved by the telephone operator, or through other means such as bank transfer.
INFOMINEO RESOURCES
A highlight of some of our resources to expand your knowledge on Africa and the Middle East.
To establish a strong crypto programming foundation, I would suggest concentrating on first learning C++ by using a few beginner books (if you are on a tight budget, you can actually purchase many of these books from a nearby Goodwill or used book store for 1/20th of the price), and then begin to experiment with Node.JS, Python, Perl, and other relevant languages as these are typically compatible/accepted/supported in activate crypto environments.
Sub-Saharan Africa, specifically, experienced major growth in the number of mobile banking services in the last years, passing from 2 services in 2 countries in 2006, to over 140 services in 39 countries by the end of 2016. Today, Sub-Saharan Africa is home to half of the 277 mobile money services available worldwide. The region now accounts for over half of the 277 mobile money services worldwide and is investing in new developments in the use of mobile money.
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