Finance and Banking
Inside the Tunisian Leasing Sector
[The North Africa Journal] The Tunisian leasing sector currently boasts 10 active companies competing for the market. Most of them are bank subsidiaries which have been set up in the 1990’s in a move to take advantage of a nascent activity which is, after all, a familiar activity for a banker and can be easily integrated in the banks’ main business.
BCP Absorbs BP Casa, Sets Stage for New Growth
[The North Africa Journal | Banking] BCP Bank has absorbed Moroccan peer BP Casablanca, in a transaction officially endorsed by Stock Exchange authorities. CFG Analysts (Casablanca Finance Group) say this transaction marks a strategic turning point for BCP as it will give the bank a direct presence in deposit-taking and lending to retail customers. ...
Africa Wants to Attract Islamic Banking Investors
In less than a decade, the value of the Sukuk market, financial instruments that are the Islamic equivalent of bonds has reached an impressive $112 billion and Africa is being eyed by Islamic bankers as a promising destination. ...
Libya’s Billions in Search of Projects
Libya is moving fast to catch up with oil-rich Gulf nations that have set up lucrative investment funds to acquire assets around the world. However, Libya’s entry into the global investment community is not new. Its first and probably most known fund, the Libyan Arab Foreign Investment Company (Lafico) was already set up some 28 years ago....
Libyan Investments Abroad on the Rise, New Focus on Africa
Most of the coverage about Libya the past few years has been about foreign investors pouring money into the promising oil and gas sector of the newly reopened North African nation.Very little has been said about Libya’s rechanneling of its oil revenues into foreign markets. ...
Debit and Payment Cards on the Rise in North Africa
The use of debit cards remains in its infancy in North Africa, with various levels of penetration from one country to another. ...
Merger of Tunisian and Libyan Banks in the Offing
Sources in Tunis report that the governments of Libya and Tunisia are currently negotiating the terms of a merger of three banks to create a bi-national financial entity capable of financing large projects. ...
Attijariwafa Bank in a Three-Horse Race to Control African Banking
The North Africa Journal : Three African banks have been racing to expand their presence in the continent. Among them is Morocco's Attijariwafa Bank, which has been facing the Togo-based Pan-African bank Ecobank and Nigeria's United Bank of Africa (UBA)....