Bad loans at small South African banks rose to 17.1 percent of those lenders’ books in the first half of this year, the central bank said on Wednesday, just months after the collapse of unsecured lender African Bank.
Twenty-one Asian nations signed on to a China-driven initiative Friday to create a new international bank for Asia that Washington opposes as an unnecessary and potentially damaging rival to established institutions such as the World Bank.
South Africa’s big four banks have all released their interim results for the year. The groups posted combined headline earnings of R27.8bn, up 13.1% from the comparable period last year, as well as a 9.5% increase in total operating income. To get insights into PwC’s latest report, South Africa Major Banks Analysis: Stability amid uncertainty, Alec Hogg spoke … Read more
By Chijioke Ohuocha and Steve Slater LAGOS/LONDON (Reuters) – Atlas Mara, the African investment vehicle of former Barclays boss Bob Diamond, is in talks to buy a $275 million stake inUnion Bank of Nigeria, a person familiar with the matter said on Thursday. Lagos-based UBN was established as Colonial Bank in 1917, and from 1925 … Read more
By Alec Hogg A few years back, I was approached by a London investment bank which needed help on assessing Nedbank. They were sworn to secrecy, but as tends to happen, it wasn’t too hard to work out their client was Standard Chartered Bank. The UK group has cash to burn. And as Old Mutual … Read more
UPDATE NOVEMBER 2012: At the time this article was written, Absa’s share price had dropped in a week from R157 to R135. The setback wasn’t temporary. In five months since the price has remained at the lower level, marking time. At the end of August, Absa’s parent Barclays appointed Antony Jenkins as its new CEO. He has spent his first few months grappling with a group-wide review of Barclays, focusing on how to change its culture and strategy.