By Andrei Skvarsky. Russian investment bank Renaissance Capital predicts a hard 2025 and 2026 for the Russian economy with a dramatic growth slowdown, a weaker rouble and a high though decreasing key interest rate. Growth that reached 4.1 per cent for 2024 would slow down to 1.6 per cent in 2025 and to 1.7 per… Continue Reading
Category Archives: News
Permira buying majority stake in Westbridge advisory from Genui
By Andrei Skvarsky. London-headquartered investment firm Permira is buying a majority stake in Frankfurt-based energy advisory Westbridge from German private company Genui under a recent agreement. The deal is expected to be closed by the end of March 2025, Permira and Westbridge said in a joint statement. Westbridge is co-owned by its founders and Genui,… Continue Reading
Investment forum provides Africa with deals worth $29.2bn – AfDB
By Andrei Skvarsky. An Africa-focused multinational three-day investment forum this month organised by the African Development Bank (AfDB) and eight other institutions resulted in deals totalling $29.2bn, a sum larger than expected, AfDB said. The deals were the result of Market Days, a regular feature of the annual Africa Investment Forum (AIF). This year’s AIF… Continue Reading
UDPN, Forus Digital working to facilitate adoption of central bank digital currencies in Africa
By Andrei Skvarsky. Online payment service providers UDPN and Forus Digital have agreed a project to promote the digitalisation of financial services across Africa and lay the basis for the adoption of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) in the continent, where hundreds of millions of people are unbanked. Seeking more extensive use of blockchain is… Continue Reading
Africa’s Ecobank launches $400m Eurobond on London Stock Exchange
By Andrei Skvarsky. Pan-African lender Ecobank has launched a $400m Eurobond on the London Stock Exchange on November 19 with 10.125 per cent interest on it payable semi-annually. Proceeds from the bonds, which mature in 2029, would be used for “general corporate purposes”, including refinancing a $350m short-term loan taken out by Ecobank in March… Continue Reading
Crypto trader Yellow Card legalised in South Africa
By Andrei Skvarsky. Pan-African cryptocurrency trader Yellow Card has announced it has been legalised in South Africa as the country’s financial sector regulator issued it with a licence. Yellow Card, reputedly Africa’s main stablecoin trader, said in a statement that the use of stablecoins, which are designed to be less volatile than bitcoins and other… Continue Reading
Afreximbank floats bonds worth $523m in Japan market
By Andrei Skvarsky. Pan-African trade finance lender Afreximbank has put bonds worth a total of 81.3bn yen ($523m) on the Japanese debt market in a debut project. The bank’s issue of so-called Samurai bonds -– yen-denominated securities issued by a non-Japanese company – consists of two lots: two-, three-, five-, seven- and 10-year regular bonds… Continue Reading
Deal planned to boost Japanese investment in Africa
By Andrei Skvarsky. Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), a 43-nation development organisation, and the Japan Institute for Overseas Investment (JOI) have agreed key points for an agreement to boost Japanese investment in Africa. The deal would involve providing investors with crucial insights and risk mitigating solutions. It would help speed up energy transition and build economic… Continue Reading
Deal between Africa’s Ecobank, Singapore’s TransferTo to ease intl payments, promote inclusion
By Andrei Skvarsky. Pan-African lender Ecobank and Singapore-based payments infrastructure company TransferTo have agreed the groundwork for a deal to facilitate cross-border financial transactions across Africa, promote financial inclusion in the continent and connect African economies to the rest of the world. Among other things, the agreement would offer underbanked individuals wider opportunities for loans.… Continue Reading
Singapore pushing ahead with financial asset tokenisation plans – newspaper
By Andrei Skvarsky. More than 40 companies and other entities across seven jurisdictions have so far been covered by a pilot project by Singapore’s central bank aimed at having assets in financial services represented on a blockchain through digital tokens, according to a key Singaporean daily. Project Guardian, launched in May 2022, has involved more… Continue Reading
Abidjan’s Janngo Capital creates $78m fund with money from IFC, EIB, others
By Andrei Skvarsky. Ivorian technology-focused venture capital firm Janngo Capital has announced the closure of its second fund at $78m, a sum 20 per cent higher that the target, with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and other key international bodies being among the investors. Investments also came from the European Investment Bank (EIB), the African… Continue Reading
Grandoreiro malware still alive with 30 Mexican banks attacked – Kaspersky
By Andrei Skvarsky. About 30 Mexican banks have been targeted recently by Grandoreiro malware despite the January 2024 arrest of key figures behind the highly sophisticated and dangerous computer bug, Russian cybersecurity company Kaspersky said. Grandoreiro is a form of Trojan horse (or just trojan), a malware type that gives its user control of their… Continue Reading
Africa Finance Corporation’s new $500m Eurobond oversubscribed heavily
By Andrei Skvarsky. Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), a multinational development institution, has issued a $500m Eurobond in a project coordinated by a bank consortium consisting of Bank of America, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs among others. The benchmark five-year bond with a coupon of 5.55 per cent, listed on the London Stock Exchange and Euronext Dublin,… Continue Reading
Islamic Development Bank unit to help Azerbaijan enhance Islamic insurance
By Andrei Skvarsky. ICIEC, the investment insurance unit of the Saudi-based multinational Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), has pledged itself to helping enhance Islamic insurance in Azerbaijan under a September 30 memorandum of understanding. ICIEC’s MoU with the central bank of the predominantly Muslim ex-Soviet republic would underlie a deal to involve activities such as trainings,… Continue Reading
Bangladesh gets $2bn from migrants as remittances in August, YoY increase of 39% – agency
By Andrei Skvarsky. Bangladesh received more than $2bn as remittances from Bangladeshi migrants abroad in August, according to one of the country’s main news agencies, which said such remittances represent an “upward trend” and a process backed by Bangladesh’s hcentral bank. The central bank, Bangladesh Bank, has taken various measures to boost remittances in a… Continue Reading
Mongolia central bank’s precious metals purchases up by 9.5% YoY – news agency
By Andrei Skvarsky. Mongolia’s central bank has bought 9.3 tonnes of precious metals since the start of 2024, which is 9.5 per cent more than it acquired for the like period last year, the country’s state news agency Montsame said. The amount includes 1.5 tonnes of precious metals that, according to a Montsame statement, the… Continue Reading
Macquarie buys hyperscale data centre in S. Korea
By Andrei Skvarsky. Macquarie Asset Management, part of Australian financial services company Macquarie Group, has agreed to buy a hyperscale data centre with a capacity of 40 megawatts in South Korea. The agreed sale price is 734bn won ($530m) but presumed inputs into transaction procedures and mechanical, electrical and plumbing works that Hanam Data Centre… Continue Reading
Rakuten Mobile to boost capital by up to $2bn via leaseback deal with Macquarie-led group
By Andrei Skvarsky. Japanese mobile carrier Rakuten Mobile plans to use some of its network assets to raise capital worth 150bn to 300bn yen (between $1bn and $2bn) through a sale-leaseback deal with an investor consortium led by the asset management arm of Australian financial services company Macquarie Group. Rakuten Mobile, a subsidiary of Japanese… Continue Reading
World Bank offers anti-‘middle-income trap’ recipe to 100-odd nations
By Andrei Skvarsky. The World Bank has proposed a formula for avoiding a “middle-income trap”, an economic growth slowdown that, according to a common but disputed theory, typically hits a country after it has achieved a middle-income level and bars it from moving on to high-income status. Use of a two-component remedy – investment plus… Continue Reading
Saudi, Chinese financial sectors preparing $50bn project
By Andrei Skvarsky. Saudi Arabia’s PIF sovereign wealth fund has signed memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with five major Chinese banks and China’s export and credit insurance agency in laying the basis for a project of up to $50bn to involve debt and equity transactions. The project would consist of deals addressing “areas such as two-way… Continue Reading
Saudi Arabia tells investors Tabuk region needs $13.3bn
By Andrei Skvarsky. A large-scale development programme launched by Saudi Arabia for its Tabuk region offers investment opportunities estimated at $13.3bn, the country’s investment minister said. Investment projects for Tabuk run through a range of sectors, including agriculture, renewable energy, petrochemicals, education and biotechnology, Saudi English-language daily Arab News cited Khalid Al-Falih as telling a… Continue Reading
UAE’s ADCB to set up Islamic banking hub for Central Asia
By Andrei Skvarsky. Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank is planning to boost the role of its Kazakhstan subsidiary Al Hilal Islamic Bank by making it a hub for corporate Islamic banking services for the whole of Central Asia in stepping up what ADCB calls its “strategic presence” in the region. Concurrently, ADCB will phase out retail… Continue Reading
Uzbekistan gold producer gets ‘BB-’ rating with ‘stable’ outlook from S&P
By Andrei Skvarsky. S&P Global Ratings has assigned a long-term rating of ‘BB- ‘ with a ‘stable’ outlook to Uzbekistan’s Navoi Mining and Metallurgical Company (NMMC), the world’s fourth-largest gold producer. This is the first rating obtained by the state-owned company from the New York City-based agency, NMMC said in a statement. One component of… Continue Reading
World Bank lending Egypt $700m to strengthen economy, facilitate green transition
By Andrei Skvarsky. The World Bank has approved a loan of $700m for Egypt as part of a three-year $6bn programme to make the country’s economy more efficient and resilient, give a bigger role to the private sector and facilitate green transition. The loan, one of the international institution’s “development policy financing (DPF)” instruments, is,… Continue Reading
RenCap expects Russia’s GDP to grow 2.7 pct YoY in 2024
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russian investment bank Renaissance Capital expects Russia to end 2024 with 2.7 per cent year-on-year economic growth, 5.7 per cent annual inflation and a relatively stable rouble, the institution’s chief economist has said. The rouble, which stands at around 90 to the U.S. dollar today, is likely to edge down to about… Continue Reading
Abu Dhabi simplifying licensing for expat businesses
By Andrei Skvarsky. Abu Dhabi has launched an initiative to simplify its registration rules for expat businesses by replacing the current range of licence types with a single standard type, the Unified Economic Licence, in a measure seen as instrumental for the emirate’s free zones. Abu Dhabi’s five free zones, which represent a variety of… Continue Reading
J.P. Morgan’s Liink system to be used by Australia’s CBA to test anti-scam tech
By Andrei Skvarsky. Australia’s Commonwealth Bank (CBA or CommBank) has announced it will test an anti-scam and mistake-proofing technology internationally in a pilot project via Liink, a blockchain-based system developed by J.P. Morgan, after the domestic use of the tech helped save “millions of dollars” for CBA clients. Liink is a global network for private… Continue Reading
ANZ warns of payment scams after Australians lost nearly $100m in 2023
By Andrei Skvarsky. Australia’s ANZ bank issued a warning last week about so-called payment redirection scams, a form of fraud that has cost Australians tens of millions of dollars lost to computer hackers who rerouted the money via fake bills. In 2023 Australians had AU$91.6m (equivalent to the amount in U.S. dollars that year) stolen… Continue Reading
Australia’s ANZ selling remaining stake in Malaysia’s AmBank
By Andrei Skvarsky. ANZ, one of Australia’s largest banks, has agreed to sell its remaining 5.2 per cent stake in AmBank, one of the biggest lenders in Malaysia. ANZ would be paid 4.10 Malaysian ringgit ($0.87) per share in the deal, the Australian bank said in a statement. The upcoming sale, to be completed on… Continue Reading