South Africa&#8217;s Capitec Bank reported an 18 percent rise in full-year profit on Tuesday as the lender continues its push into transactional banking.
Capitec, which grants loans not supported by assets, said it gained 1.3 million active clients, brining its total to 8.6 million customers, over the past year as feeble growth in Africa&#8217;s most advanced economy forced thrifty South Africans to shop around.
The lender posted diluted headline earnings per share of 3,270 cents for the year to end-February, compared with 2,787 cents a year earlier.
&#8220;Despite weak economic conditions, there was strong year-on-year growth in net transaction fee income,&#8221; Capitec said in a statement.
Capitec&#8217;s transaction fee income climbed 30 percent to 3.9 billion rand ($304.57 million), but interest income remains the lender&#8217;s largest source of revenue, increasing 11 percent to 14.9 billion rand.
The bank, which in 15 years grew from a startup to touch a market value of 93 billion rand, last week said it had bought a 40 percent stake in Latvia&#8217;s Creamfinance, its first acquisition outside its home market.
&#8220;We continue to grow our client numbers, branches and ATM network. This will provide us with the opportunity to offer new financial services in the future,&#8221; the bank added.
($1 = 12.8049 rand)
(Reporting by TJ Strydom; Editing by Sunil Nair)
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South Africa’s Capitec FY profit up as client numbers climb

South Africa&#8217;s biggest lender by value, FirstRand, reported a 14 percent rise in half-year profit on Thursday, helped by a strong showing at its auto finance unit.
FirstRand said headline EPS totalled 212 cents in the six months ended December, compared with 185 cents a year earlier.
Headline EPS, which strips out certain one-off items, is the main measure of profit in South Africa.
Wesbank, its auto finance business, posted a 9 percent rise in earnings, outpacing a 2 and 3 percent growth in retail and investment banking units, respectively, FirstRand said.
(Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; Editing by Sunil Nair)
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South Africa’s FirstRand H1 profit up on auto finance boost

Mauritian bank group SBM Holdings will acquire full ownership of Kenya&#8217;s Fidelity Bank, a small lender, in a deal valued at 100 shillings ($0.98), SBM said on Tuesday. 
SBM said in a filing with the Mauritian bourse that it would inject 1.45 billion shillings of fresh capital into Fidelity, once the deal gets all the required regulatory approval.
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&#8220;The acquisition is in line with SBMH&#8217;s regional expansion strategy into East Africa,&#8221; SBM said in the filing.
The Kenyan central bank said the deal was expected to be completed by the end of this year.
&#8220;SBM Group will bring its experience and expertise from Mauritius and other markets, to enhance competitiveness and the resilience of Kenya&#8217;s banking sector,&#8221; the central bank said.
Fidelity, which started operating as a commercial bank 20 years ago, has 14 branches in Kenya and is ranked 31 out of 41 Kenyan lenders by market share, with 0.39 percent, the central bank said.
SBM Group, which operates one of the Indian Ocean island nation&#8217;s leading commercial banks, SBM Bank, had assets of $4.2 billion as of September. It also operates in India and Madagascar.
Analysts say rising bad debts, the capping of commercial lending rates and weaknesses in corporate governance exposed by the collapse of two lenders in the past year and a half, have made the Kenyan banking sector ripe for consolidation.
&#8220;CBK (Central Bank of Kenya) welcomes the interest of foreign banks that will contribute to the emergence of a world-class financial sector,&#8221; the central bank said.
($1 = 101.8000 Kenyan shillings)﻿

Mauritian bank to acquire Kenya's Fidelity Bank

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is evaluating Ghana&#8217;s fiscal outlook for the rest of 2016 and will consider the third review of the country&#8217;s $918 million assistance programme next month subject to the outcome, the Washington-based lender said on Monday.
Ghana, which exports cocoa, gold and oil, signed the three-year aid deal in April last year to bring down budget deficits, inflation and a high public debt.
&#8220;Discussions between staff and the authorities are currently ongoing to update macroeconomic projections, firm up the fiscal outlook for the remainder of 2016 and ascertain that financial pressures in SOEs will not pose additional risks to the central government budget,&#8221; the Fund said in a statement.
&#8220;Subject to a quick and positive conclusion of these discussions, staff expects the third program review to be considered by the IMF Executive Board around mid-September,” it said.
The government had expected the Executive board to conclude the third review in June to enable it receive a fourth disbursement of around $115 million in balance of payment support.
The West African economy has agreed remedial measures including financial and institutional reforms to cut spending and spur growth.
Finance Minister Seth Terkper said last week the IMF deal was yielding positive results and that Ghana was on target to halve its fiscal deficit this year.
 
(Reporting by Kwasi Kpodo; editing by Grant McCool)﻿

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South Africa’s Capitec FY profit up as client numbers climb

South Africa’s FirstRand H1 profit up on auto finance boost

Mauritian bank to acquire Kenya's Fidelity Bank

IMF evaluates Ghana's fiscal outlook for rest of 2016

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South Africa’s Capitec FY profit up as client numbers climb

South Africa’s FirstRand H1 profit up on auto finance boost

Mauritian bank to acquire Kenya's Fidelity Bank

IMF evaluates Ghana's fiscal outlook for rest of 2016

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