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The third annual African Banker Awards ceremony was held in Istanbul, Turkey, last month (October). The awards reflected the resilience and preparedness of African banks, which helped to mitigate to [...]

Yara traces its history back to the beginning of the last century when the Norwegian conglomerate, Norsk Hydro, was formed by industrialists Sam Eyde, Kristian Birkeland and Marcus Wallenberg. They [...]

Celtel Tanzania Limited has secured a $270m loan with a mix of local and international lenders to support its continuing network expansion. The funding comes after a highly successful 2007, [...]

Whatever the outcome of the political crisis in Iran will be in the long term, the times when ruling hardliners could claim that the country was united behind the conservative [...]

Representatives of donor countries, meeting with officials from Africa and international development institutions, agreed to a record level of support for the African Development Fund (ADF). The decision to make [...]

Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has been appointed Managing Director of the World Bank. The President of the World Bank, Robert B. Zoellick said 'Ngozi brings a unique set of skills and [...]

The planned merger between Ecobank Nigeria Plc and Sterling Bank Plc has led to the retirement of Mallam Sulaiman S. Baffa as Chairman and W. Babatunde Dabiri as Group Managing [...]

The Ecobank Group recorded strong growth for the third quarter of 2007. Total assets of the Group grew by 64% to $4.96bn, compared with the same period in 2006. Profit [...]

The African Development Fund (ADF) has approved $264m in loans and grants for Kenya, Madagascar and the Gambia. Kenya will receive UA156.9m to finance the Nairobi-Thika highway improvement project as [...]

The Federal Government of Nigeria has appointed an interim management for NICON Insurance PLC and Nigerian Re-insurance after the recent controversial dismissal of the boards and management and takeover of [...]

Actuary Douglas Hoto has been promoted to head of Altfin Holdings Limited (AHL). Altfin Holdings comprises Altfin Insurance Company (AICO) and Altfin Life Assurance (ALAC). AHL was the result of [...]

Educating young orphans in Cameroon, giving HIV/Aids sufferers in Ethiopia a voice, singing to deeounce the mutilation of young girls in Niger and lighting a village from the fruit of [...]

Nigeria's UBA Plc announced that it has made a substantial equity investment in Afrinvest. Afrinvest is a privately owned investment bank specialising in African securities based in London. The investment [...]

An innovative payment card, the Maatcard, is to be launched in Cameroon. Besides offering the traditional facilities of a standard pre-paid debit card, the Maatcard has another level of security [...]

The African Development Bank, along with other development financial institutions, have signed loan agreements for the East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy). The landmark fibre-optic cable project will connect 22 [...]

Intercontinental Bank has a new corporate logo. The new logo has the hexagon as its primary identity icon with two dominant colours--blue and yellow. According to the Group CEO of [...]

BCI-Fomento, Mozambique's second largest bank, has a new ownership structure after the sale of shares to the Mozambican group INSITEC. BCI is dominated by Portuguese capital. The Portuguese state bank, [...]

China has cancelled Sierra Leone's $22m debt. During a visit to Sierra Leone, the Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhai Jun and Sierra Leone's Foreign Minister Zainab Bangura signed the debt [...]

The National Bank of Kenya has developed a shariah compliant product for the Muslim community. This is in line with the Bank's strategy to enhance and reposition its brand in [...]

Mozambique's Austral Bank, which was owned 80% by the South African giant Absa, now bears the name of Barclays-Mozambique. This follows the 2005 takeover by Barclays of Absa when Barclays [...]

Lonrho, the reborn pan-African conglomerate, raised $58.5m on London's AIM market to establish its new subsidiary LonZim. LonZim has been established to make investments in Zimbabwe and the Beira transport [...]

Actis, a leading private equity investor in emerging markets has realised its investment in the Palms Mall in Lagos, the path-breaking shopping centre development in Nigeria. Actis has sold its [...]

The External Bank of Algeria (BEA) and HSBC signed a cooperation agreement in Algiers providing funding for large Sonatrach and Sonelgaz projects. Sonatrach, Africa's biggest firm by revenue, generates about [...]

Access Bank Sierra Leone Ltd. is Access Bank's third licensed bank on the African continent. The bank opened its doors to the public after receiving approvals from the Bank of [...]

A report from Fitch says that Kenya's banking sector is performing satisfactorily and the country's financial institutions are financially sound and solvent. The Central Bank of Kenya has also announced [...]

In a further indication that the Libyan authorities are committed to reforming the country's financial sector, BNP Paribas has been chosen as the strategic partner for Libya's Sahara Bank. Sahara [...]

The chief executive of the South African Banking Risk Information Centre, Gilbert Swats, says members of the public using mobile banking services should be especially vigilant against fraudsters. He recommends [...]

The second Pan-African Women's Conference meeting in Johannesburg focused on creating a pan-African women's bank as part of a strategy of empowering women to reduce poverty in Africa. 'Our goal [...]

Executive director Dominic Bruynseels has resigned from the Absa Group and Absa Bank boards. Bruynseels, who also served on the board of Absa Bank Ltd (ABSP.JO), was an executive director [...]

Mauritian Finance Minister Rama Sithanen believes that there is a potential demand for Islamic banking and finance in Mauritius--not only from those who follow the Islamic faith but from the [...]

Mauritius is one of the few countries in the world where the Central Bank was created before independence. The Bank of Mauritius, an autonomous bank found at Sir William Newton [...]

Mauritius' Ministry of Industry, Trade, SME and Co-operatives has launched the Business Excellence Award competition for local enterprises engaged in all sectors of the economy, particularly in textiles and clothing, [...]

AfrAsia Bank Ltd, a joint-venture by the Mauritian business group Mon-Loisir (85%) and Loita Capital Partners from South Africa (10%), starts operations at 10, Dr Ferriere Street, in Port-Louis this [...]

One of the world's top law firms and noted specialist in emerging markets, Denton Wilde Sapte (DWS), intends to increase its African and Middle East operations. Denton Wilde Sapte has [...]