Foreign exchange market

Favored by its status as a safe haven in the face of geopolitical considerations, the dollar appreciated Thursday against the main currencies, including the euro. The greenback is facing the prospect of a reduction in monetary support from the US Central Bank (Fed) this year. The pound remained calm after the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published a slowdown in UK inflation to 2% year on year in July, following a 2.5% rise in prices in June .

Money Market

The Member States of UEMOA have decided to mobilize resources on the regional financial market by issuing bonds called "Bons de soutien et de Résilience" (BSR), in order to finance the operations provided for in their budgets for year 2021. As part of ensuring the "best financial conditions" for issues by Member States called "Support and Resilience Bonds", the Central Bank of West African States (Bceao) has decided to open a special refinancing window with a maturity of twelve months, called the “Support and Resilience Window”.

Niger carried out its largest bond issue in the country, opened for subscription on August 16, 2021. The operation called “TPN 6.3% 2021-2031”, initially spread out until September 3, was oversubscribed by more than 250 % with an order book showing 367 billion FCFA for an offer of 150 billion FCFA.

Togo has issued new stimulus bonds with a maturity of 10 years on the regional financial market. This amount of 25 billion FCFA, according to the Togolese authorities, will be used to revive the country's economy during the post-Covid-19 period. It should be remembered that since the beginning of 2021, Togo has already collected 408 billion FCFA on the financial market. And on behalf of this third quarter of the current year, the country aims to mobilize 110 billion FCFA, including 27.5 billion FCFA already raised thanks to its first operation last July.

Stock market

While the bond market is sinking, the market capitalization of the shares market of the Regional Stock Exchange (BRVM) recorded an increase of 29.826 billion FCFA at the end of the trading session of Wednesday August 18, 2021. This capitalization increased from 5199.479 billion FCFA the day before to 5229.305 billion FCFA. In the space of two trading days, the capitalization of the shares increased by 79.975 billion FCFA. That of the bond market, for its part, stood at 6923.884 billion FCFA against 6936.360 billion FCFA the day before, a decrease of 12.476 billion FCFA. The total value of transactions amounted to 298.392 million FCFA against 1.746 billion FCFA the day before.

Raw materials

Oil prices fell further on Thursday, returning to comparable prices at the end of May, under the combined effect of fears for crude demand and a healthy dollar. A barrel of Brent North Sea oil for October delivery fell 2.60% or $1.78 to $66.45 in London from the previous day's close. In New York, the US barrel of WTI for the month of September fell 2.70% or 1.77 dollars to 63.69 dollars.

Companies

The Côte d'Ivoire subsidiary of the agri-food group Nestlé has been in the top 5 best performing African listed companies since the start of 2021. With a first dividend in five years, the company has won the favor of investors of the Regional Stock Exchange (BRVM). Its stock market value was up 1056.25% on Friday August 13.

Banks and Insurance

Western Union money transfer activities have resumed at BGFIBank Gabon. Effective for the time being in five branches of the bank in Libreville, this recovery will affect the interior of the country in the coming weeks. Virtually disappearing in Gabon, the resumption of Western Union will take place in the BGFIBank Gabon branches of Centauri (Louis) and Neptune (Okala), from 7:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. At Loxia, the Glass, Nzeng-Ayong and Carrefour Léon Mba agencies, from 7:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., were selected for the resumption of the Western Union service. This redeployment will continue in the coming weeks within the country (Franceville, Moanda, Port-Gentil, Lambaréné, Oyem).

The Development Bank of Mali (BDM-SA) has been recognized as "Best Regional Bank in West Africa 2021" thanks to its performance, awarded to the bank during the last African Banker Awards ceremony held in June 2021.

Versus Bank Côte d'Ivoire was awarded at the "International Banking Awards 2021" initiated by the famous British magazine "International Banker", in London, Great Britain. It wins the ''Best Commercial Bank in Côte d'Ivoire'' and ''Best Innovation in Retail Banking in Côte d'Ivoire'' awards in 2021. Versus Bank receives these two (2) awards as a commitment to mobilize more efforts to always provide better quality service in order to achieve customer satisfaction.

For the sake of economic recovery, in relation to the health crisis, the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) injected for its latest operation, a total of 4,764 billion FCFA, i.e. an increase by 43.3%.

The World Bank and its partners are working to create a new Global Fund for Cybersecurity. This financial instrument will serve to better define and systematically deploy the cybersecurity development agenda, helping to ensure more substantive reflection of cybersecurity considerations in World Bank programs and financing.

The Bank of Sierra Leone (BSL) announced on August 11 in Freetown during a press conference the redenomination of the Leone currency. This change, which will take place in this year 2021, will consist of the removal of the last three zeros on the banknotes. In practice, a current 1,000 Leones note will become 1 Leone, 2,000 Leones will become 2 Leones, 5,000 Leones will become 5 Leones and 10,000 Leones will become 10 Leones.

Financial Afrik offers a reading grid on the 30 banks with the strongest regional impact through its ranking on the basis of total balance sheet, market capitalization, outstanding loans and deposits, NBI and, above all, expansion. African, does not claim to be exhaustive. Standard Bank remains by far the number one in this ranking, ahead of First Rand, Absa and Nedbank. Moroccan banks follow, ahead in terms of total balance sheet but surpassing South Africans in the diversity of their African networks. The magic trio Attijariwafa Bank, BCP and BMCE Bank Of Africa now extends beyond the French-speaking area. The takeover of Barclays Egypt by Attijariwafa bank in 2017 is part of this dynamic. As for Nigerian banks, they remain timid in the French-speaking area where they continue to alternate acquisitions and disposals. The sale, at the end of 2017, of Diamond Bank to NSIA Banque is a good illustration of this trend.

The insurance sector in Gabon recorded a growth rate of 3.58%. The turnover of the sector reached 64.230 billion FCFA during the first quarter of 2021, against 62.011 billion FCFA compared to the same period last year. According to the Gabonese Federation of Insurance Companies (Fegasa), the insurance market ended its first quarter of 2021 on a note of satisfaction, with an increase in turnover of just over 2.200 billion FCFA, compared to the same period of the 2020 financial year. This performance observed in 2020 and confirmed as of June 30, 2021, demonstrates the resilience of this sector in an environment marked by the stigma of the health crisis linked to the Covid-19 pandemic. .

The activities of the National Agency for Quality Assurance of Higher and University Education (ANAQ-ESU) were officially launched on Monday at the Hotel Reine de Paix/CENCO in the commune of Gombe. The mission of the agency will be to restore the quality of training in this sector and to initiate the various reforms of the higher education system, in particular the License-Master-Doctorate (LMD) system.

Financial crimes

The Congolese executive and parliament have given themselves the opportunity to take coordinated action to fight against fraud and corruption within the public administration. The platform will allow them to build more effective and efficient repression strategies, capable of containing or curbing this phenomenon.

In a press release, the Senegalese gendarmerie informs that nearly 690 million FCfa have been seized. And for good reason, counterfeiting seems to be gaining ground and today holds the upper hand in crime. The national gendarmerie “invites the populations to be more vigilant and to work together, for a more effective fight, by reporting any discovery or information relating to this area”.

Suspected of misappropriation of last public, the Director General of the Autonomous Port of Douala was summoned to the Special Criminal Court in Yaoundé. Cyrus Ngo'o, Director General of the PAD is quoted in a document classified as "confidential" which leaked on social networks this Sunday August 15, 2021. Indeed, on Friday August 13, Police Commissioner William Oko Petis, Head of the Investigations Division within the Specialized Corps of Judicial Police Officers of the Special Criminal Court in Yaoundé, sent a letter of summons to Cyrus Ngo'o, Director General of the PAD. The document specifies that during this investigation, the Manager will be heard as a suspect. But, this court specialized in the fight against corruption and misappropriation of public property in Cameroon, does not reveal the content of the case in question.

In his mission to fight effectively against corruption, the President of the Republic of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum is taking the bull by the horns. Thus, under the terms of Decree No. 2021 – 681/PRN of August 12, 2021, it decided to terminate the functions of the State Inspectors General, including the Chief State Inspector General. In addition to an unshakeable political will, this operation requires appropriate structures capable of carrying out this fight without qualms. In order for it to reach its cruising speed, the state inspectors general were dismissed under the terms of decree N°2021 – 681/PRN of August 12, 2021.

An investigation by the Integrity and Anti-Corruption Office of the African Development Bank (AfDB), established that Sargittarius Nigeria Limited had engaged in fraudulent practices. The limited liability company registered in the Federal Republic of Nigeria found itself therefore excluded for 18 months.

Arrested in February 2020 for his past activity under money laundering charges, Larry Dean Harmon recently pleaded guilty at his trial, reports the Bleeping Computer. Between 2014 and 2017, Larry Dean Harmon offered a rather special money laundering service. He operated a bitcoin “mixer”, named Helix, whose role was to blur the traces of transactions between cybercriminals' wallets. He was tried for laundering the equivalent of $300 million.

Regional growth

The Heads of State of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC) held an extraordinary summit on August 18, 2021. The meeting is primarily devoted to "the evolution of the macroeconomic situation in the CEMAC zone in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic and the analysis of recovery measures". There was talk of renegotiating new economic programs or extending old programs with the IMF, taking into account the current socio-economic situation.