Foreign exchange market

At the end of the week, the American dollar rose slightly against the other major currencies. Around 10:10 a.m. GMT (11:10 a.m. CET), the euro lost 0.04% against the dollar at 1.1207 dollars for one euro. The publication of the unemployment rate in the United States could influence the monetary policy of the American Federal Reserve (Fed). The Dollar index, which compares the greenback to a basket of other major currencies, took 0.07% to 96.22 points. The euro remains in difficulty against the dollar, because the European Central Bank does not envisage a rate hike in the immediate future. As for other currencies, the Turkish lira fell 1.4% to 13.87 pounds to the dollar. The yen and the Swiss franc still in demand amid fears of the impact of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

Cryptocurrencies

The cryptocurrency exchange platform, Busha announced, on November 23, the success of a funding round of 4.2 million dollars. At the end of this operation, Busha wants to expand to other African countries. With more than 200,000 registered users, the platform wants to support its growth in Nigeria and expand to Ghana, Kenya and French-speaking countries in West Africa.

New recommendations from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on crypto-assets pave the way for new compliance specialists. With its new recommendations, the FATF intends to reduce legal uncertainties. These recommendations will mechanically increase the demand for crypto-asset exchange platforms.

The explosion of cryptocurrencies in 2020 coincides with a new wave of fraud in an environment that is still very little controlled. Very little regulated, the cryptocurrency sector allows crooks to make juicy and illegal operations that a report has just brought to light. An Elliptic report gives worrying figures with an increase of more than 600% in cryptocurrency losses due to theft or scam between 2020 and 2021.

Money markets

Côte d'Ivoire, through the General Directorate of Treasury and Public Accounting, obtains 38.500 billion FCFA in support and resilience bonds on the WAMU financial market. It was at the end of its issue of Treasury Bonds (BAT) called "support and resilience bonds" with a maturity of 364 days, organized in partnership with UMOA-Titres based in Dakar.

Stock markets

After a slow start at the start of the week, the indices of the Regional Stock Exchange (BRVM) fell into a mixed situation at the end of the week. The BRVM 10 index thus lost 0.13% to 150.76 points against 150.95 points the day before. The BRVM Composite index (general stock market index) gained 0.05% to 197.36 points against 197.27 points the day before. At the end of the trading session of this Thursday, December 2, 2021, the total value of transactions fell from 566.368 million FCFA the day before to 2.833 billion FCFA this Thursday, December 2, 2021. The market capitalization of the equity market increased is established at 5937.391 billion FCFA against 5934.651 billion FCFA the day before. That of the bond market also recorded an increase of 275 million FCFA to 7100.852 billion FCFA.

The Ecobank Cote d'Ivoire stock recorded an increase of 18.18% at the end of the week from November 22 to 26, 2021, according to the Weekly Review published by the Management and Intermediation Company (SGI) CGF Bourse. This publication highlighted the dynamism of purchases of this security with an increase in the weekly volume traded (12,261 securities traded this week against 7,343 securities traded the previous week). Ecobank Cote d'Ivoire is thus at the head of the Top 3 of the highest price increases with 4,400 FCFA. It is followed by the titles Sucrivoire (+10.29% to 1020 FCFA) and Total Cote d'Ivoire (+10.26% to 2095 FCFA).

Raw materials

In the aftermath of a summit of OPEC+ producers, oil continues its momentum. Around 10:30 a.m. GMT (11:30 a.m. CET), the price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea for delivery in February gained 2.47% to 71.39 dollars. In New York, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for the month of January rose 2.44% to 68.12 dollars. The summit saw a continuation in January of the gradual increase in production carried out each month since May.

Provisional port data reveals that in the first month of its 2021/22 cocoa campaign, Côte d'Ivoire reportedly exported 75,231 tonnes (t) of cocoa beans, 99% more than in October 2020. In addition, it is not 15,504 t that the country would have exported in September, the last month of the 2020/21 campaign, but 23,766 t. From January to October, Ivorian cotton exports would have jumped by 40% compared to the same period in 2020, to reach 350,112 t. As for natural rubber, the rise was timid, around 2%, to 993,664 t. On the other hand, the drop was severe in coffee, with 27,018 t of beans exported over the first 9 months of the year, down 55% over the same period last year.

Companies

After its debut on the African continent in North Africa, the American restaurateur Papa John's will launch its expansion into sub-Saharan Africa in 2022. For this new adventure, the world's third largest pizza maker will partner with Kitchen Express, a restaurant operator affiliated with Hass Petroleum Group which currently operates more than 140 service stations in 10 African countries.

As part of the post-Covid recovery of the Senegalese agricultural sector, the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) has granted financing of 40 million euros to the Senegalese National Peanut Company (Sonacos). The facility, dedicated to financing part of the 2021-2022 peanut campaign, should make it possible to cover Sonacos' financing needs to ensure the acquisition of 150,000 tonnes of peanuts from the current harvest from farmers.

El-Hassana KABA, Founder CEO of MANSA BANK and Matthew Boadu ADJEI, Managing Director of OASIS CAPITAL GHANA, manager of the OASIS CAPITAL VC FUND Limited Fund, have signed an agreement relating to the entry of OASIS CAPITAL VC FUND Limited into the Capital of MANSA BANK. Thus, the fund OASIS CAPITAL VC FUND Limited becomes a shareholder of MANSA BANK up to 16.12% of the capital which now goes from CFA 12 billion to CFA 15.7 billion.

In a financial communication published on Tuesday, November 30, the Moroccan group Addoha announced that it had achieved a turnover of 420 million dirhams (45.4 million dollars) in the third quarter of 2021. The increase is estimated at 37% compared to at the same period in 2020 when the group posted 305 million dirhams (32.9 million dollars).

Banks and Insurance

The African Development Bank (AfDB) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) are partnering to advance economic development in Portuguese-speaking African countries. The two structures signed a partnership agreement on Wednesday, December 1, which admits the IFC as the first institutional partner of the Development Finance Pact for Portuguese-Speaking Countries in Africa, or Portuguese-Speaking Pact.

The Board of Directors of the AfDB Group also approved a facility of 20.26 billion CFA francs for the subsidiaries of Ecobank International and the trade finance activities of EBI SA in Africa. The facility aligns with the acute market demand for trade finance in Africa in the areas of agriculture, transport, construction, health and manufacturing, and is in line with the five strategic priorities of the Bank, in particular Industrialize Africa, Integrate Africa and Feed Africa.

The AfDB has also granted over €108 million to Senegal's Industrial Acceleration, Competitiveness and Employment Support Program (PAAICE). In addition, with the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), it disbursed USD 120 million in loans to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Standard Bank has sealed a partnership with WebAfrica to offer fiber broadband to South Africans. The partnership would come into effect during the first quarter of 2022. The initial focus of the partnership will be to make high-speed internet access available to customers and to make Standard Bank's flexible funeral product accessible to WebAfrica customers” .

The European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Trade and Development Bank for Eastern and Southern Africa (TDB), have jointly launched an €81.5 million initiative over 12 years to support investments in the sector private sector in Eastern and Southern Africa. Also, the EIB has provided a credit facility to the Co-operative Bank of Kenya to help micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) recover from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The long-term loan will be repayable in seven years and will help MSMEs finance the acquisition of tangible business assets, working capital, innovation development of distribution networks and business research.

The Inter-African Institute for Training in Insurance and Business Management (IFAGE) innovates in insurance training. In February 2022, it plans to launch the first 100% online professional master's degree in French-speaking Africa. IFAGE aims to enable professionals to acquire management and steering tools in the field of insurance.

The insurance company Misr Insurance, leader in the Egyptian market, has partnered with Khales, an e-finance digital payment company. The two parties proceeded to sign an agreement which essentially aims to promote the use of digital payments on a national scale. Under the terms of the agreement, the insurer will rely on the company's mass network (approximately 320,000 points of sale) to ensure its expansion.

On the occasion of the work of the Inter-African Conference on Insurance Markets (Cima), experts from the continent are examining the theme: Commit to digitalization or "perish". As such, the 2022 program intends to integrate the connection to the digital revolution through digitalization. The question of the rapid settlement of claims was also at the heart of the work in Yaoundé. It's about doing everything possible to charge for services on time.

Financial crimes

The fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) requires today more than ever the involvement of all stakeholders. Thus, the Intergovernmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) is organizing a regional awareness workshop from December 6 to 7, 2021 in Lomé. This meeting focuses on AML / CFT and is dedicated to actors from Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) of ECOWAS Member States.

In Senegal, a banker and a businesswoman were arrested in an incredible case of fraud and forgery and use of forgery in which they extracted millions from the Cash point services bank. To achieve her goal, the pseudo entrepreneur used the name of the son of the former Senegalese president whose imminent return she announced for the 2022 elections.

The former boss of the Union Bank of Cameroon is being prosecuted instead of the bank for not having repaid on time a loan of more than 2 billion CFA francs received from the public treasury. He was summoned before the Special Criminal Court (TCS).

For having embezzled 24 million FCfa from the coffers of the Cbao, the Head of electronic banking at the Cbao, H. Soumaré, 34, is in prison. The charges against him are: forgery and use of forgery in private bank writing, fraudulent cash withdrawal, bank card fraud, complicity in the prejudice of his employer. He was arrested by the Special Cybercrime Division (Dsc).

Following the investigation into the cartel in the spot foreign exchange (Forex) market, the European Commission has decided to impose a total fine of 261 million euros on the banks Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland ( RBS) and HSBC. It also imposed a financial penalty of 83 million euros on Credit Suisse under the ordinary procedure. UBS received full immunity for disclosing the cartels.

Regional growth

Following the recommendations of the ^12th Conference of Heads of State and Government of UEMOA, which called for reflection on land reforms within the Union, the ministers in charge of urban planning, housing and urban land in the Member States of the Union, are concerned with strengthening the effectiveness of housing policies on the scale of the eight countries of the Union. It is in this logic that, meeting in Dakar on Monday, November 29, 2021, the Union's town planning ministers examined "the harmonization of land registration procedures, access to title deeds and the implementation place of a land information system in urban areas”.

Proparco and the UEMOA Regional Mortgage Refinancing Fund are joining hands to promote access to affordable housing for low-income populations in the 8 countries of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA). This partnership is a loan of 40 million euros (approximately 26.21 billion FCFA) from Proparco to the Regional Mortgage Refinancing Fund of UEMOA (CRRH-UEMOA) for the refinancing of affordable housing loans granted by WAEMU banks to low-income populations in the Union. It should be noted that the financing is accompanied by a technical support grant in the amount of 500,000 euros, i.e. nearly 328 million FCFA intended to strengthen the internal capacities of CRRH-UEMOA, and to support its awareness among its customers.

On the sidelines of their 13th meeting, ECOWAS Trade Ministers adopted in Lomé an institutional and regulatory framework. In connection with the ambition of the Heads of State to create a common market and an integrated region, they validated the draft legal texts relating to the ECOWAS Regional Competition Policy and to the Regional Competition Authority of ECOWAS (ARCC). These texts will make it possible to meet the challenge of promoting competition in the sub-region.