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Banking / Investment in West Africa

  • GTBank records an increase in Profit Before Tax for the fiscal year

    NIGERIA, 2017/09/09 Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) has recorded an 18 % increase in Profit Before Tax (PBT) for the fiscal half-year that ended on June 30, 2017. The bank, in a statement, said its PBT rose from N85.69 billion in 2016 to N101.1 billion in 2017. The financial performance presented to the Nigerian and London Stock Exchange showed the bank’s loan book dipped by six % from N1.590 trillion recorded as at December 2016 to N1.491 trillion in June 2017 with a decrease in customer deposit by one % to N1.966 trillion from N1.986 trillion in December 2016.
  • Why governments need to support the financial sector to meet the unserved needs of smallholder farmers

    BOTSWANA, 2017/09/09 This year, under the leadership of H.E. President Alassane Ouattara and the theme of “Accelerating Africa’s Path to Prosperity: Growing Inclusive Economies and Jobs through Agriculture”, the African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) 2017 is shaping up as a premier platform to showcase ongoing evolution in Africa’s agricultural transformation schedule and to scale up the political, policy, and financial commitments needed to achieve the Malabo Declaration and the world development schedule around the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Following the launch of the landmark annual Africa Agriculture Status Statement (ASSR) at the AGRF taking place in Cote d’Ivoire from 4-8 September 2017, the major conclusion centres around the power of entrepreneurs and the free market in driving Africa’s economic increase from food production. This is owing to the fact that a lot of businesses are waking up to opportunities of a rapidly growing food market in Africa that may be worth additional than $1 trillion each year by 2030 to substitute imports with high price food made in Africa.
  • Letshego chief aims to lead race for African financial inclusion

    BOTSWANA, 2017/08/23 In sub-Saharan Africa about 326 million adults do not use formal or semi-formal financial services. This unbanked group, according to consultancy McKinsey, offers innovative finance providers with a peerless increase opportunity. Indeed, momentum is building behind Africa’s financial inclusion schedule; mobile money operators are on the rise, commercial banks are launching microfinance units, and governments are pushing to formalise economic activity in their respective markets.
  • Nigeria: Dangote, Niger Sign $450m Pact in Rice, Sugar Today

    NIGERIA, 2017/08/18 A Memorandum of Considerate between Dangote Group and Niger National government would be signed today for a $450million investment in sugar and rice production, the Executive Director, Corporate Services of Dangote Group, Dr. Mansur Ahmed, has disclosed. Speaking at the Niger National Investment Summit yesterday, in Minna, Ahmed, who represented the Chairman and CEO of the group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, said the company would establish a large scale Rice Processing Mill that would off take and process over 200,000 metric tons of paddy rice from out growers within the next three years.
  • Where’s best to invest in Sierra Leone?

    SIERRA LEONE, 2017/08/11
  • Ghana’s micro-insurance offering benefits from collaborative efforts

    GHANA, 2017/07/07 The rollout of new micro-insurance products in partnership with mobile operators is allowing Ghana to deepen penetration rates, something that has historically proven tricky due to its large informal sector and a lack of consumer awareness. Wider offerings In mid-May telecoms firm MTN Ghana announced it had teamed up with insurance provider aYo – part of US-based Metropolitan Life Insurance – to introduce a micro-insurance service for mobile money transfers.
  • Ghana Brighter times ahead for Ghana’s banks

    GHANA, 2017/07/02 The rapid deceleration of economic increase in Ghana in 2015 and 2016, mainly the result of the plunge in prices of gold, cocoa and oil, had a major impact on the country’s banks. But with a new reform-minded president in charge and improving macroeconomic conditions, 2017 has so far been a better year for the banking sector. Between April, 2016 and April, 2017, the country’s total banking assets increased 30.9 %, from 64.6 billion cedis to 84.5 billion cedis. The major driver of strong investment increase has been the increase in client deposits, which shot up 28.4 % over the same period, as banks have increased their customer base and brought additional Ghanaians into the formal banking system.
  • Improvements to Ghana’s investment environment under way

    GHANA, 2017/04/06 The spending plan, released on March 2 by Ken Ofori-Atta, minister of finance, contains a number of articles that look to increase fixed capital formation and investment inflows from overseas. One of the most noticeable reforms in the budget is the abolition of the 17.5% VAT on financial services. The removal of the tax should provide a healthy fillip to the sector, in addition to lowering transaction costs and paving the way for private sector credit growth. Tax cuts to spur business A number of other tax reforms have been announced for implementation in the short to medium term as part of moves to reenergise the private sector and provide relief for businesses, according to the language of the budget.
  • Ecobank Launches US$500,000 Fintech Challenge for African Start-ups and Innovators

    TOGO, 2017/02/05 Ecobank, the leading independent pan-African banking group, has launched Ecobank Fintech Challenge, a competition for African technology start-ups to build and deploy innovative fintech and banking solutions across the continent. Ecobankis currently accepting applications at http://ecobankfintech.com/ from start-ups and developers in all 54 African nations.
  • Heirs Holdings and Banque Centrale Populaire of Morocco Sign Investment MOU

    MOROCCO, 2016/12/08 Yesterday, King Mohammed VI of Morocco and President Muhammadu Buhari met at the Presidential Villa to sign bilateral agreements, aimed at strengthening economic ties between Morocco and Nigeria The agreements cover the areas of investment, training, youth skills-building, oil and mining, tourism, infrastructure, banking, finance, insurance and logistics and represent the desire on the part of both countries to deepen political and economic ties.