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From Nigeria to Kenya, sweeping tax reforms are rewriting the rules for business and investment in Africa. Join us Sept 30 for the big picture.
Kenya’s Kamau Thugge and Morocco’s Abdellatif Jouahri have earned top marks in Global Finance magazine’s 2025 “Central Banker Report Cards,” placing ahead of peers from Egypt, Ethiopia, South Africa and Uganda in the annual global ranking.
Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) Plc reported a 50% drop in profit as non-core income slumped, reflecting a broader slowdown across Nigeria’s largest banking group.
Capitec Bank, which handles over 40% of South Africa’s airtime and data transactions, is deepening its telecoms push with a micro-airtime advance, betting the phased rollout will scale rapidly across its 25-million-strong customer base.
The unanimous move marks a turn from one of the most aggressive tightening cycles in the bank’s history and broadly aligned with market expectations.
The reforms form part of Pretoria’s broader Operation Vulindlela programme, launched in 2020 to unlock investment and expand private-sector participation in infrastructure.
The industry upturn reflects renewed strength in crude oil output, coal mining, quarrying and a modest recovery in refining, even as manufacturing continues to lag. It underscores how quickly oil and non-oil activities can reshape Nigeria’s growth trajectory when aligned.
Following its retreat, HSBC clients, banking assets, liabilities and employees have moved to FirstRand’s corporate and investment franchise, Rand Merchant Bank.
AI is transforming the African M&A lifecycle — from identifying targets to automating due diligence and smoothing post-merger integration. The technology promises speed, precision, and insights that human teams alone struggle to match…
The appointment announced on Friday comes as Ethiopia grapples with currency instability, heavy debt obligations and an ambitious programme to liberalise its financial sector.
The 108-year-old financial institution has announced the full redemption of its 15.75% Series 2 bond on September 3, 2025, settling principal and coupon payments in line with SEC rules.
The hold decision comes despite a bigger-than-expected drop in annual inflation to 3.3% in August for the first time in six months

While the bank insists its capital position remains strong, the combination of a million-dollar pension settlement and softer operating income sets the stage for a difficult rest-of-the-year.
With total assets of $20 billion and a 53% rise in post-tax profit to $688 million in 2024, analysts say Zenith has the firepower to support expansion.
According to the group’s earnings report on Thursday, profit after tax fell by 7.9% to ₦532.2bn ($372.4m) in the six months to June, from ₦577.9bn ($384.4 m) in the same period of 2024. The last time Zenith posted a profit drop was in 2016.

The revision reflects stronger contributions from services, which accounted for 52% of output, while agriculture contributed 21% and industry 22%.
The Bank of Ghana said the move reflected continued disinflation and confidence that price growth would return to target of 6-8% before year-end.
Under the Bank of Ghana’s new prudential rules, lenders with NPLs exceeding 15% will be barred from paying dividends or bonuses from December 2026.
Standard Bank, Africa’s largest lender by assets, has turned to seasoned internal hands to steer its South African unit, the group’s biggest arm.

The latest reading fell below market expectations, with analysts now seeing a higher likelihood of another rate cut by the South African Reserve Bank’s (SARB) during its next policy meeting on Thursday.