Browsing: East Africa

Kenyan listed banks had an improved performance on aggregate in the first quarter of 2019 as they recorded improved profitability in a relatively tough operating environment, a survey by Cytonn Investment has revealed.

During the quarter, return on equity rose to 19.2 per cent from 18.4 per cent in Q1 2018, with equity group having the highest at 22.8 per cent, Cytonn’s Q1’2019 Banking Sector Review indicates.

The report, themed ‘Consolidation and Diversification to drive Growth’, analyzed the Q1’2019 results of the listed banks.

“We note that the increased emphasis on operating efficiency by banks seems to be bearing fruit, with the listed banking sector’s operating efficiency improving year-on-year, which was further supported by a recovery in interest revenue, largely supported by the asset re-allocation to government securities, and increased lending to specific segments”, said Caleb Mugendi, investment Associate at Cytonn Investments.

“The continued focus on alternative banking …

EFG Hermes, the leading financial services corporation in frontier emerging markets (FEM), has for the second year running been ranked the number one frontier market brokerage firm in the Extel Survey 2019.

The firm also remains the second highest ranked brokerage firm in the Middle East and North Africa(MENA).

Prior to this accolade, EFG Hermes was also named, for the second time in as many years, the leading Africa (Ex-South Africa) Equities House by the Financial Mail, attesting to the success of its expansion into African markets.

EFG Hermes launched its operations in Kenya in 2017 and has been using its Nairobi office as the hub for its East African research coverage and trading execution.

“As the most dynamic and leading economy in the region, we strongly believe that Kenya is the most appropriate hub for the region,” said Kato Mukuru, EFG Hermes’ Head of Frontier Research.

“Holding our ground …

Tala, the leading consumer lending app in emerging markets, has disbursed loans to over 2.5 million customers globally, in the wake of continued global expansion of financial technology.

READ:Kenyan fintech companies brace for sectors’ revolution

This was revealed on Monday during the celebrations to mark the company’s five year anniversary in Kenya.

When Tala, formerly Mkopo Rahisi, was launched in Kenya in 2014 becoming the first in the world to offer unsecured mobile loans direct to consumers.

Since then, Tala has expanded credit access across Kenya by using alternative data to instantly underwrite and disburse credit to people who have been excluded from traditional finance due to lack of credit history or formal records.

READ:Tala raises $30 million to expand into new markets

Speaking during the launch of ‘Tala at 5’ celebrations, the head of Tala’s Kenya business, Ivan Mbowa, noted that Tala has changed the way people …

Pan-African telecoms enabler SEACOM has further extend its corporate market offering into the East African region, under its Seacom Business brand, by providing its industry-leading Internet connectivity and cloud services directly to corporate customers in Uganda.

SEACOM has been a leading data connectivity provider in Uganda enabling access though the service provider segment.

READ ALSO:SEACOM and Microsoft to boost connectivity in Kenya

It is now bolstering its presence in Kampala by expanding its enterprise reach and will now be able to provide corporate organisations in Uganda with reliable data connectivity and cloud services.

SEACOM will provide a corporate-grade consistent service quality by leveraging its existing high-speed fiber-based network infrastructure that extends from Kampala onto its diverse subsea international backbone.

Speaking during the launch, SEACOM’s Managing Director for the Eastern North and East Africa region, Tonny Tugee, said the new development is part of the telecoms provider’s plan to strengthen …

Kenyan authorities have unearthed an international car smuggling racket targeting the East Africa region, one in many that have been busted in recent times.

On May 9, 2019, Customs officers in Mombasa received intelligence to the effect that two 20-foot containers on board a ship sailing to the Port of Mombasa was suspected to be stolen motor vehicles from the United Kingdom.

The containers arrived at the Port of Mombasa on May 11, 2019 aboard MV. MSC Positano from Oman and had not been declared.

Authorities subjected the two containers to x-ray cargo scanning where the images revealed the presence of top of the range motor vehicles.

According to import documents, the Range Rover Sport cars, which were subject of an international motor vehicle crime and smuggling investigation, were on transit to Uganda.

“a multi-agency team led by Customs officials undertook a verification exercise on  May 28,  2019 confirming the …

Every plastic bag, paying little heed to thickness, will be restricted from being imported, sent out, made, sold, put away, or provided for use in Tanzania.

Visitors to East Africa’s most populous nation, nearly 57 million, have been told to expel plastic bags from their baggage before traveling.

WWF Nation Executive Dr. Amani Ngusaru has complimented the administration for venturing up the battle against plastic contamination in the nation. He said WWF Tanzania is inspired with the Tanzania government’s choice to boycott the utilization of plastic bags.

“Plastic is a number one polluter of environment and a silent killer of our natural environment and resources than most people understand. This is because it takes more than a hundred years for a single plastic bag to decay. We are happy that Tanzania is among the very few African countries to ban the use of plastic bags and we will work hard …

KCB Group shareholders have approved the proposal to acquire 100 per cent of the issued ordinary shares of National Bank of Kenya Limited (NBK) via share swap.

This approval follows the offer made by KCB Group on April 18, 2019 to acquire the shares of struggling NBK by way of a share swap of 10 ordinary shares of NBK for every one ordinary share of KCB. The transaction is subject to regulatory and NBK shareholders approvals.

The acquisition is part of KCB’s ongoing strategy to explore opportunities for new growth while investing in and maximizing the returns from its existing businesses, the management has said.

“For us, the acquisition is an opportunity to strengthen the deposit base and lending capacity, increase cost efficiencies due to economies of scale and boost transactional revenue through leveraging of technology. NBK maintains a strong deposit franchise and a wide branch network,” said KCB

Group …

By 2035, Africa which has one of the youngest populations in the world will have the largest workforce in the world.…

The technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) sector in Africa is expected to show impressive growth in 2019.

This is according to according to Baker McKenzie’s Global Transaction Forecast (Forecast) in association with Oxford Economics who also predict that transactions are expected to exceed earlier predictions of mergers and acquisition (M&A) investments worth USD 5.9 billion in 2019.

The state of investment in the TMT sector in Africa was under discussion at Baker McKenzie’s African Transactional Summit, held in Johannesburg this week. Janet MacKenzie, partner in the Corporate M&A Practice and Head of the TMT Industry Group at Baker McKenzie in Johannesburg said that Africa was considered to be a region of significant investment potential in the tech space.

“Increasingly, M&A deals and IPOs in the TMT sector in Africa point to the growing reliance of African consumers on technology across multiple platforms. The unabated demand for technology has caused extensive …

Diamond Trust Bank (DTB) has posted a 9.4 per cent growth in net profit for the first quarter ended March, buoyed by returns from investment in government securities and non-funded revenue.

The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) listed lender closed the period with a Ksh1.97 billion profit after tax compared to Ksh1.80 billion posted last year.

The Group defied a tough operating environment to build customer deposits to Ksh275 billion, while the asset base grew to Ksh370 billion, entrenching the DTB’s position as a leading tier one bank in Kenya and the wider East African region.

On the back of an industry-wide subdued growth in loans, the group’s investment in Treasury Bills and Treasury Bonds grew to Ksh124 billion at the end of March 2019, compared to Ksh118 billion at the same time last year.

DTB’s non- performing loan book declined marginally to Ksh12.4 billion, from Ksh13.2 billion a year earlier, …