Rwanda has maintained its position as the leading country in East Africa on the ease of doing business, the latest World Bank ‘Doing Business 2020’ shows.

This is despite dropping nine places to 38 globally from 29 last year.

READ  ALSO:How Rwanda has strategically positioned itself as an investment hub

Kenya comes in second in the region and 56^th globally, having improved five places from position 61 last year.

READ:Kenya ranks 61 from 80 in World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business

Uganda and Tanzania come a distant 116 and 141 globally respectively while DR Congo and South Sudan are near the bottom ranking 183 and 185 respectively, out of the total 190 in the index. This places them third fourth fifth and sixth respectively in the region.

Indicators that make Rwanda top include starting a business which has been made easy by exempting newly formed small and …

East Africa’s largest insurance group, Jubilee Holdings Limited, has signed a deal with Credit Bank in a move that will see the two entities launch education and investment plans through the Bancassurance model.

The plan to be rolled out by Credit Bank through ‘My Friend Insurance Agency’’ seeks to focus on ensuring that customers of both entities build an education fund and a savings portfolio over a period of time through the bank’s Bumblebee Account, as well as Jubilee Insurance’s array of investment and education plans like Fanaka and Career Life Plus.

This will be facilitated through the use of Bancassurance sales officers strategically positioned at the bank’s 17 branches countrywide.

Jubilee Insurance and Credit Bank see this as an opportunity to entrench a saving culture among Kenyans that currently stands at 11.2 per cent of GDP, according to the latest report by the National Treasury.

READ ALSO:Kenya’s

East Africa’s top banks ranked among the world’s 1,000 best lenders despite tough operating environment.

The banker, a monthly London-based international financial affairs publication owned by the Financial Times Ltd, shows that Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB), Equity, Diamond Trust Bank and Co-operative Bank, remained resilient in a tough operating environment so as to maintain an upward growth in profitability.

The banks made significant strides in strengthening their balance sheets (assets) and increasing their Tier 1 capital in line with the Basel III requirements.

Tier 1 capital is the core measure of a bank’s financial strength which is reserved to ensure banking operations are not disrupted during periods when lenders make losses.

The chief executive Kenya Bankers Association, Habil Olaka said that banks are taking advantage of opportunities in the East Africa Region and providing their customers with seamless service delivery.

Also Read: DTB joins Mastercard, DPO Group to extend digital

East Africa economies are seen to outshine growth of other regional blocks this year due to the fall in the price of oil and commodities that has hit the North, Southern and western countries.

In its latest economic update, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) has projected that East African economies will post a GDP growth rate of 6.3 per cent this year.

The GDP expansion is higher than the projected estimated growth in North at 2.8 per cent and West Africa at 3.4 per cent.
Southern Africa is expected to record a slow pace of 1.3 per cent, due to the region struggles with policy uncertainty, rainfall deficit, effects of cyclones and power rationing.

The regional director for the Middle East, Asia and Africa at ICAEW, Michael Armstrong said that East African economies like Kenya and Tanzania are shielded from global shocks as they are …

Safaricom, leading communications company in Kenya is eyeing a stake in Ethiopia’s State-owned Ethio Telecom.

Ethio Telecom has announced the sale of shares through a privatisation plan.

Safaricom’s interim CEO, Michael Joseph said that Safaricom is considering buying a stake in the world’s largest telecoms monopoly or might consider setting a shop in Ethiopia from scratch.

Michael Joseph’s comments came when the Ethiopian authorities launched the search for an adviser on the sale of a stake in its national operator. The company is opening the country’s telecoms market to foreign investment for the first time.

Ethio Telecom’s has a subscriber base of 44 million makes it the biggest single-country customer base of any operator in Africa. Ethio Telecom last year generated revenues of about $1.2 billion, which is nearly half the Sh250.9 billion that Safaricom posted in the year to March.

Safaricom’s cash at bank stood at Ksh20 billion …

Stanbic Bank has been extensively named in a regional airline’s woes. South Sudan based Air Afrik says it will send home an estimated 200 employees home due to loss of business occasioned by the lenders’ faults.

The carrier hit major turbulence following the loss of a $20 million plane-leasing contract with the government of South Sudan.

Since the loss of the contract and court case against Stanbic Bank the company has been reviewing its process; fitting people into the right jobs and in the process, some roles have become redundant.

“We understand this is a challenging time for our team, but these steps were necessitated following Stanbic Bank’s negligent errors, oversight and unlawful actions,” the company said in a statement

The court case stems from a banking transaction gone awry. According to an official letter to the Central Bank of Kenya, the South African-owned bank admits to having regrettably made …