Foreign exchange market

Approaching recent highs against the euro, the US dollar rose again on Friday, ahead of the monthly jobs data. For its part, the pound sank again the day after a meeting of the Bank of England. Investor mistrust of the British monetary institute weighed on the British pound, which fell 0.38% to 85.92 pence per euro after hitting a low in a month at 85.95 pence.

Cryptocurrencies

The world's largest and most diverse derivatives market has announced plans to expand its cryptocurrency derivatives offering with the launch of Micro Ether futures. Equal in size to one-tenth of an ether, Micro Ether futures will provide an efficient and profitable way for many market participants, from institutions to sophisticated and aggressive retail traders, to hedge their price risk. spot ether or more agile execution of ether trading strategies, while retaining the features and benefits of CME Group's larger Ether futures.

Money markets

In a press release, the National Treasury indicates that the loan called “Fipra-PA 2021” was launched without authorization, in violation of the instruction relating to the public call for savings within the Western Monetary Union. African (Uemoa). This is a loan for an internal fund relating to poultry production. The Treasury denounces an “illegal” bond loan.

Through its Directorate General of Treasury and Public Accounting, the State of Burkina Faso raised on November 3, 2021 on the financial market of the West African Monetary Union (UMOA) an amount of 32.719 billion FCFA (49.078 million euros). This was at the end of its issue of Treasury bonds (ORD) with a maturity of 3 years and 5 years organized in partnership with UMOA-Titres based in Dakar.

Stock markets

At the end of the trading session of this Thursday, November 4, 2021, the downward trend in the market capitalization of the shares market of the Regional Stock Exchange (BRVM) which began on November 2, 2021, continued. This capitalization stood at 5840.049 billion FCFA against 5842.672 billion FCFA the day before, a decrease of 2.623 billion FCFA. This situation is attributable to the 0.04% drop in the BRVM Composite index to 194.13 points against 194.21 points the day before. As for the BRVM 10 index, it remained stationary at 148.95 points. The capitalization of the bonds is up by 288 million FCFA to 7095.448 billion FCFA against 7095.160 billion FCFA the day before. As for the total value of transactions, it is down, standing at 623.607 million FCFA against 962.034 million FCFA on November 3, 2021.

Cameroonian Louis Banga-Ntolo now heads the Central African Stock Exchange. On October 25, the board of directors of the Central African Securities Exchange (BVMAC), chaired by Henri-Claude Oyima, selected the head of Societe Generale Capital Securities Central Africa to lead the unified regional stock exchange. Its mission is to establish the visibility and credibility of the stock market.

Raw materials

Oil prices were up slightly on Friday. Around 10:35 a.m. GMT (11:35 a.m. CET), the price of a barrel of Brent North Sea oil for January delivery was up 0.61% from the previous day's close, at $81.03.

The Ivorian Prime Minister, Patrick Achi, inaugurated this week the extension of the cocoa processing unit of the company Cargill. Cocoa, in Côte d'Ivoire, the world's largest producer, contributes 20% of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). But, according to the Ivorian Prime Minister, "local processing remains insufficient, as does the capture of added value". Côte d'Ivoire aims to process all its production by 2030. After investing $100 million, Cargill is completing the expansion of its cocoa processing plant in Côte d'Ivoire and making it the largest factory of cocoa grinding on the African continent.

The brewer SABC inaugurates its maize mill of 18 billion FCFA this November 5, 2021 in Mbankomo. With this investment, the beer market leader aims to produce 30,000 tonnes of corn gritz each year, by processing 60,000 tonnes of raw corn purchased from local growers. The leader in the brewing market aims to produce 30,000 tonnes of maize gritz each year.

Companies

Telecom group Airtel Africa PLC has announced that it has completed the sale of its telecommunications tower company to Helios Towers Plc. The cost of the transaction is estimated at $51.7 million. According to Airtel Africa, the proceeds of the transaction will be used to reduce the group's external debt and to invest in network and sales infrastructure in Madagascar.

Chipper Cash, an African cross-border payments company is valued at 2 billion USD. And for good reason, the company raised USD 150 million in a Series C extension round. The company's strategy is to provide the "best price" while facilitating money transfers from Africa to the United States.

Opibus is working to strengthen its offer of electric vehicles for Africa. The company has just closed an equity and grant fundraising round of $7.5 million. According to the African electric mobility company, this fundraising is the largest financing ever raised for an electric mobility company in sub-Saharan Africa.

The venture capital fund, Antler East Africa, based in Nairobi, has just raised 1.6 billion shillings (15 million USD) from institutional investors, including the International Finance Corporation (IFC). The objective is to invest in local and regional start-ups.

The managers of the water distribution company of Côte d'Ivoire (SODECI) announce an increase in turnover of 6.785 billion FCFA (10.177 million euros) at the end of the third quarter of 2021 compared to the same period of the year 2020. The company's turnover has indeed increased from 93.517 billion FCFA as of September 30, 2020 to 100.302 billion FCFA as of September 30, 2021.

Banks and Insurance

Lomé obtains a loan of 120 million dollars from the World Bank (WB). This is a financing agreement for the Lomé-Ouaga-Niamey regional economic corridor project in the amount of US$120 million. The documents of the financing agreement for the Lomé-Ouaga-Niamey regional economic corridor project have were signed by the Togolese Minister of Economy and Finance, Sani Yaya and the Director of Operations for Togo, Côte d'Ivoire, and Guinea, Coralie Gevers in the presence of President Faure Gnassingbé.

Moody's Investors Service confirmed the triple A rating of the African Development Bank (AfDB). The outlook remains stable. The long term Aaa rating of the long term issuer and the senior unsecured rating of the African Development Bank is now confirmed. According to Moody's, key factors underpinning the assertion include strong capital buffers, combined with superior risk management that contain the challenges associated with low credit quality of development assets in a difficult operating environment. ; very good access to funding which supports the bank's ample liquidity cushion; and very strong support from regional and non-regional shareholders to support the development mandate of the African Development Bank.

Leading pan-African banking group Ecobank has won two awards for its Ellever program. According to a press release, the Financial Alliance for Women has awarded Ecobank the “Impact Award”, which recognizes support for women-led and women-focused businesses on the continent. The “Ellever by Ecobank” program also received the “Best New Product Launch of the Year” award at the Middle East & Africa Retail Banking Innovation Awards.

At the end of the third quarter of 2021 compared to the same period of 2020, the net result of Bank Of Africa (BOA) Côte d'Ivoire, a member of the BMCE Bank group, improved by 3.432 billion FCFA (5.148 million euros). According to the managers of this banking establishment based in Abidjan, the table of activities and results shows that this result went from 11.781 billion FCFA on September 30, 2020 to 15.213 billion FCFA a year later.

Serge Ekué, President of the West African Development Bank (BOAD) and expert in finance, is the winner of the Development Champion Award 2021 of the Rebranding Africa Forum 2021. This award recognizes his exceptional contribution and his tireless work in favor of development priorities of West African countries.

A year after receiving approval from the Ministry of Finance, Bange Cameroun SA opened its first branch in the city of Douala. Bange Cameroun SA proceeded last week to the inauguration of the first agency in the country. With a share capital of 12 billion FCFA, the subsidiary of Banco National de la Guinée Equatorial (Bange Bank) focuses its strategy on medium-term credit and leasing.

Unity Bank Nigeria's loan portfolio grew by 31%. Its profit after tax stood at 1.94 billion naira (5 million USD) in the first 9 months of the year. According to the third quarter financial results released by the Nigerian Commercial Bank, profit before tax for the period under review increased by 23% to 2.11 billion naira (5 million USD) from 1.71 billion naira (4 million USD) during the corresponding period in 2020.

Governance

Benin still earns points from the Fitch rating agency. From “B with a positive outlook”, the international financial rating agency Fitch raised Benin's rating to “B+ with a stable outlook”. The decision confirms the country's strong resilience in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, which had already led the agency to raise Benin's rating outlook to "positive" in February 2021.

Financial crimes

Following unexpected checks, a man was arrested last week in Paris, in possession of numerous banknotes. According to AFP, "this is the largest known seizure of counterfeit banknotes of this type of counterfeit in Europe". The search of his home led to the discovery of nearly 130,000 euros in fake bills, said AFP citing a police source.

Regional growth

The Conference of the Parties on Climate COP 26 records a panoply of initiatives and commitments in favor of climate action. For its part, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is working on a regional climate strategy, with a view to strengthening the coordination of climate action in its area. This framework in the making, will decline objectives for 2030 and 2050, as well as an action plan in the priority sectors for the region, in terms of development: in particular, agriculture, energy, forestry, water, or transport and infrastructure.

Also, ECOWAS aims to provide all its citizens with an identity document by 2024. This identification procedure is part of the fight against statelessness within the community. The dynamic is to put an end to statelessness by 2024, by providing in particular on this date, all citizens of the community space with an identity document.

After Dakar and Cotonou, Bamako hosted the third annual meeting of the Regional Council for Public Savings and Markets (CREPMF) with the accounting profession. Chaired by the Malian Minister of Mines, Energy and Water, this third meeting between the accounting profession and financial market players present in Mali was a place for sharing and reflection on reforms and innovations in current and projected on the regional financial market.

Next November 24 and 25, Casablanca will welcome numerous experts from the financial and stock market sectors as well as international opinion leaders. On the agenda of the 24th ^annual conference of the African Securities Exchanges Association (ASEA), hot topics such as the development of capital markets, African economic integration, disruptive technologies and impact investing .