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Credit Reference Company (CRC) Credit Bureau Launches in Nigeria; Credit Bureaus Will Enhance Lending in Nigeria, Says Tony Elumelu, CEO/MD, UBA

Jan 18

Posted by Staff Writer in News | 1 Comment

Credit Reference CompanyGroup Managing Director/CEO UBA Plc, Mr. Tony Elumelu has applauded the establishment of credit bureaus in Nigeria describing it as a historic milestone in the financial services sector in the country. ChairmanKing.com recently reported that Nigeria hopes to boost lending with the launch of three credit bureaus, namely Credit Reference Company (CRC), Credit Registry, and XDS Credit Bureau.

Tony Elumelu, whose goodwill address was delivered on his behalf by UBA’s Executive Director and Group Chief Finance Officer Mr. Victor Osadolor, at the launch of the Credit Reference Company (CRC) Credit Bureau Limited in Lagos recently, said the move represent a positive response to the problem of accurate lending in the banking sector.

According to him credit bureaus in the Nigerian market will engender a smooth coordination and cooperation among operators in the industry, ensuring transparency in the system, and providing accurate information and thus creating a conducive environment for the borrowers and lenders to transact business. Read the rest of this entry »

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Standard Bank Looking at Nigeria for Possible Takeover Targets

Dec 15

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Standard BankStandard Bank Group Ltd., Africa’s largest lender, says it’s looking at Nigeria for possible acquisition opportunities as a banking crisis in the West African country slashes valuations.

“The current situation in Nigeria does present opportunities, and we are watching developments with interest,” said Erik Larsen, spokesman for Johannesburg-based Standard Bank, in an e-mailed response to questions today. “Nigeria is a key strategic market for Standard Bank.”

Stanbic IBTCStandard Bank already operates in Nigeria through its controlling stake in Stanbic IBTC.

Nigeria’s banking crisis began in August when the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) sacked eight chief executive officers and injected N620 billion ($4.1 billion) into those and two other distressed lenders to boost their capital and liquidity. Read the rest of this entry »

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Key Facts on Kenya’s Banking Sector

Dec 7

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Kenya FlagKenyan banks have posted their results for the third quarter and, apart from a few exceptions, are expected to post modest profit growth for 2009 as a whole. Following are key facts about Kenyan banks:

* The industry posted an 11% growth in assets for the year ended September to 1.31 trillion shillings ($17.5 billion).

* Total deposits rose to 1 trillion shillings and the branch network grew by 154 branches to 918 during the same period.

* There are 43 commercial banks in Kenya. The biggest, in terms of total assets, is Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) with 191 billion shillings at the end of last year.

* For decades, since independence from Britain in 1963, Kenyan banking was dominated by local units of the likes of Barclays and Standard Chartered. These have been challenged by home-grown institutions such as Equity Bank.

Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB)* The latest foreign bank to pitch its tent in Kenya is Nigeria’s United Bank for Africa (UBA).

* There are about 6.3 million bank accounts in Kenya, out of a total population of more than 36 million — up from 2.6 million accounts at the end of 2005.

* Kenyan banks employed 22,438 people as of December l, 2008.

* There are nine banks or holding companies for banks listed on the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) with a market value in excess of 270 billion shillings, at the end of August.

* Two Islamic banks — Gulf African Bank and First Community Bank — opened their doors early last year and now have nearly 1% of gross banking assets.

Read/watch more news on Kenya

Kenya Commercial Bank(KCB) | Barclays (Kenya) | Standard Chartered (Kenya) | Equity Bank | United Bank for Africa (UBA) | Gulf African Bank (GAB) | First Community Bank (FCB)

Source(s): CNBC

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What’s Next for Nigeria’s Banks?

Oct 29

Posted by Staff Writer in News | Post Comment

The Central Bank of Nigeria has an important role to play in efficiently regulating Nigeria's banking sector.

The Central Bank of Nigeria has an important role to play in efficiently regulating Nigeria's banking sector.

Since the audit results of the remaining 14 Nigerian banks was announced earlier in the month, there has been much speculation about foreign take-overs of the troubled institutions, as well as mergers within the sector. Going forward, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will also have to actively manage the financial health of the banks and make sure they don’t find themselves in such a situation again.

After the audit findings on the first 10 of Nigeria’s 24 banks were revealed in the middle of August, the market has been holding its breath for the results of the 14 remaining banks.

On 2 October, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced that four more banks – Bank PHB, Equitorial Trust Bank (ETB), Spring Bank, and Wema Bank – were undercapitalized, in a poor liquidity position, and in what the CBN called a “grave situation”. A fifth bank – Unity Bank – was adjudged to have insufficient capital but a healthy liquidity position.

The CBN said it will inject N200 billion (US$1.3 billion) into the four distressed banks to stabilize them. This is in addition to the N420 billion ($2.8 billion) released to the five banks – Oceanic Bank, Intercontinental Bank, AfriBank, Finbank and Union Bank – found to be in trouble after the first round of audits. The managing directors and executive directors of Spring Bank, Equitorial Trust Bank (ETB), and Bank PHB have also been removed. Read the rest of this entry »

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ExxonMobil Takes $4 billion Stake in Ghana’s Jubilee Oil Field

Oct 7

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ExxonMobilExxonMobil has agreed to acquire a large stake in Ghana’s Jubilee oil field from its private equity owners, paying about $4 billion for one of Africa’s most potentially lucrative oil discoveries in recent years.

The deal was first mooted at the end of last year and attracted interest from many of the world’s big oil groups, but became bogged down by horse-trading with Ghana’s government.

It would generate about a four-times return for Blackstone and Warburg Pincus, which together invested $800 million in Kosmos Energy, owner of the Jubilee stake. Read the rest of this entry »

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Why the Nigerian Banks Stay Optimistic

Sep 28

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Naira

Analysts at Renaissance Capital call it the numbers game in Africa’s biggest market with a population of 150 million and note that Nigerians are still spending. One barometer, the sales of first-class and business-class air tickets on flights between Lagos and Europe, indicates the elite is awash with cash. More contentiously, Renaissance predicts that Nigeria’s gross domestic product will hit $308 billion in 2011; the IMF’s projection for South Africa is $262 billion.

Oil, gas, and Africa’s biggest market keep the investors interested despite the increasingly desperate politics in Abuja ahead of the 2011 elections.

After six weeks of billion dollar bailouts, high-level sackings, and the arraigning in court of five top executives, Nigeria’s financial sector is still robust enough to prompt paeans of praise from banks such as Goldman Sachs, Renaissance Capital and Standard Chartered. Not far behind in their pursuit of Nigerian business are South African banks such as Standard, Absa (now controlled by Britain’s Barclays Bank) and FirstRand – all of which are looking at buying stakes in troubled Nigerian banks, such as Intercontinental, Union, and Oceanic. Read the rest of this entry »

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Standard Chartered Bank is Set to Take Opportunities from Ongoing Banking Sector Reforms in Nigeria

Sep 8

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Standard Chartered BankCEO of Nigeria’s Standard Chartered Bank Christopher Knight has said that if there is need and opportunity to acquire a Nigerian bank, Standard Chartered would go for it, provided that such a deal adds value to Standard Chartered’s business. Christopher Knight communicated this during a lecture titled “The Age of Bank Transparency – Nigeria and The Global Oil Cycle” recently organized by Standard Chartered in Lagos.

According to Mr. Knight, “For now we don’t have intention to acquire any bank but in the future we can, if need be. For now, we would be establishing more branches in Nigeria to show that we have come to invest and do business.” Read the rest of this entry »

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Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Acts Boldly to Stabilize Banking Sector

Aug 20

Posted by Staff Writer in News | 5 Comments

Lamido SanusiDespite the markets initial negative reaction to the news, most commentators seem to view the move by the CBN as a positive step.

Razia Khan, Head of Africa Research at Standard Chartered writes in Business Day that “the decision to inject N400 billion of equity into the troubled institutions is a sign of the authorities’ resolve to protect depositors and to ensure that no bank will fail.

“The banks are now more, not less, safe, as a result of the authorities’ actions.

Based on this precedent, the authorities would likely be prepared to inject further capital into other institutions to stabilize them and safeguard depositors if necessary. Given this, the degree of market nervousness – as reflected in volatility in the US dollar/naira exchange rate – appears to be overdone, in our view,” she argues.

In a dramatic move, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Lamido Sanusi, on Friday sacked the CEOs of five banks and announced a N400 billion bailout to the respective banks.

Since the collapse or near collapse of many of the world’s foremost financial institutions last year, there has been much talk about the health of Nigeria’s banking sector. The general belief was that although the sector couldn’t distance itself from happenings in the rest of the world, everything was under control with no need for any government intervention. Still there has always been speculation that everything was not right.

New Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, on Friday however ended the rumors when he announced a N400 billion (US$2.5 billion) bailout for five of the country’s banks – Oceanic Bank, Intercontinental Bank, AfriBank, FinBank (First Inland Bank), and Union Bank. The CEOs and Executive Directors of the five banks were also suspended and immediately replaced. Read the rest of this entry »

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International Finance Corporation (IFC) Plans More Spending on Oil in Sub-Saharan Africa

Jul 30

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Oil WellInternational Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank Group’s private-sector lending arm, plans to increase spending on sub-Saharan Africa’s oil and gas industry and sees “significant” opportunities in Ghana, Uganda, and Tanzania.

“Africa is a focus region for us,” Kamal Dorabawila, the IFC Head of Oil and Gas in Africa, said from Cape Town today.

The IFC has invested $400 million in Africa, about 19% of its global oil and gas total, Kamal Dorabawila said.

Ghana expects to pump 500,000 barrels of oil a day by 2014 as it seeks to boost supplies to the domestic market and become Africa’s newest crude exporter. Chairman King recently reported that Ghana will become one of the world’s top 50 oil producers.

Tullow Oil Plc. has drilled 25 wells in the Lake Albert Rift Basin in Uganda since January 2006, of which 24 found oil and gas.

IFC, Standard Chartered Bank Plc, BNP Paribas SA, Societe Generale SA, Absa Group Ltd. and Calyon are among financial institutions that helped Kosmos Energy LLC get a $750 million loan to fund Ghana’s Jubilee Field phase one development. Jubilee “is a world class oil discovery” and Ghana’s offshore is a highly prospective area, Dorabawila said.

Ghana is seeking private investors to build three or four refineries, with at least one being located in the country’s Western region, the site of the Jubilee offshore oil field. Read the rest of this entry »

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Sinopec & CNOOC to Buy Marathon Oil’s Stake in Angola Block for $1.3 Billion

Jul 17

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Oil RigChina Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec), China’s largest refiner, and CNOOC Ltd. agreed to buy a 20% stake in Angola’s offshore deepwater Block 32 for $1.3 billion from Marathon Oil Corp. Marathon Oil, the fourth-largest U.S. oil company, will keep a 10% interest in the block, site of 12 announced petroleum discoveries, after the sale, which is expected to close by year- end, the companies said today in separate statements.

It would be the fourth and largest divestiture this year of an exploration and production stake by Houston-based Marathon Oil, the largest U.S. Midwest oil refiner, after it announced an asset review in March 2008. Marathon had initially sought an Angola transaction valued at more than $2 billion, said Mark Gilman, an analyst at The Benchmark Co. in New York. “Marathon’s thoughts as to the value of this interest, at least in our view, were way out of line previously,” said Gilman, who has a “hold” rating on Marathon shares and owns none. “It’s still a good price for them.” Lee Warren, a Marathon Oil spokeswoman, said the Angola deal “indicates substantial value that we’re receiving.” She declined to comment on whether Marathon sought a price higher than $1.3 billion.

Marathon Oil has said its review and sale of assets would generate $2 billion to $4 billion on a pretax basis. The company said April 30 that it had announced transactions valued at about $1.6 billion. Marathon said in June that it agreed to sell its stake in an offshore Ireland natural-gas project to Vermilion Energy Trust for at least $235 million. Marathon Oil also has completed the sale of U.S. oil and natural-gas fields for $181.1 million to Apache Corp. It sold an Irish unit to Petroliam Nasional Berhad, or Petronas, Malaysia’s state-owned oil company, for $180 million in April. Today’s announcement brings the total value of announced asset sales by Marathon Oil to more than $3 billion since March 2008. Read the rest of this entry »

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