SWIFT has launched the gpi Observer Analytics tool, a new resource for gpi banks to gain more comprehensive business insights into their gpi traffic flows. This follows a successful pilot with 17 banks The unique market and competitive analysis that gpi Observer Analytics provides will allow African gpi-member banks to act on reliable and fact-based information to understand the current itinerary and speed of their payment instructions. Larize Nel, Payments Portfolio Manager, ABSA Bank, said: “Complex data made simple! This is such a powerful tool. It provides a simplistic and customized view on data that was previously difficult to access,…
Author: NBM CORRESPONDENT
BY RAFAEL MARQUES de MORAIS Just think for a minute. In a two-year span, a father gave his daughter, among several contracts, four that were worth over US $22 billion. The father is then President José Eduardo dos Santos, and the daughter is Isabel, Africa’s richest woman. These were the golden days of the presidential family’s capture of Angola. Period. In the past month, with a stroke of a pen, General João Lourenço has annulled the four egregious contracts. The former “princess” is crying foul, and is threatening to sue the Angolan state however, the state is calling out her…
Dr Tom Odhiambo There has been public debate in media in recent times, about who between the student and the teacher is the culprit when course marks “disappear” in universities. Some professors have ventured to defend their turf, often trying to show that the students are to blame for engaging in all manners of chicanery to graduate without attending class. Of course when students respond, they simply laugh at such teachers, rightly so, I think. Why? Because when marks are “lost”, as students are generally told, it is the height of irresponsibility by the teachers. Period. If the lecturer actually…
By David Onjili Harambee Stars restored Kenya’s pride and honour, bringing joy to the success-starved local football fraternity with their thumping of Ethiopia 3-0 at the Moi International Sports Centre Kasarani on October 14. This was despite the not-so-good preparations. First, they could not afford to be in camp in good time for first leg in Addis where they forced a barren draw and the return leg at Kasarani that gave us the elusive result. Second, head coach, Frenchman Sebastian Migne had gone for three straight months without pay heading into the fixture. Even though intervention by the Deputy President…
The 2018 edition of the Cape Town International Film Market and Festival wrapped up on October 19 with a Gala Awards evening at the newly re-furbished Cape Town City Hall. With over 120 films in competition, across a range of categories, the various juries made up of film experts from home and afar did not have an easy task in selecting the Award winners. This year’s festival once again focused a spotlight on various genres including documentary, feature and short films, as well as including themed awards such as Best LGBTQ, Best Asian Film, and a notable award for Best New…
BY KEVIN MOTAROKI The United Nations projects that Africa will have some 1.7 billion people by 2030, and 2.6 billion by 2050. This projected growth poses a real socio-economic challenge because, with its current 1.2 billion people, the continent has perennially fallen short of its food production targets, creating worrying shortages and contributing to the global food crisis. To plug the deficit and forestall future food shortages, the continent needs to produce at least 80% more food than it currently does – to both guarantee its food needs and to avoid its overreliance on imports, or aid in dire circumstances.…
BY ANTONY MUTUNGA Ever since nations realized that in order to survive and prosper, there was a need to come up with revenue, every country focused on ways to levy from the citizens and attract more people to their shores. Therefore, this saw the rise of taxation which for years has been the major way through which governments finance their expenditure. However, despite being an advantage to the government, taxation did not sit well with the citizens. For instance, during the Roman Empire citizens would do anything to avoid paying taxes such as burying their expensive belongings when the taxman…
BY GILBERT NG’ANG’A On September 12, Kenya’s banking sector was hit by a rare regulatory storm that will redefine the future of the financial services sector in Kenya. The Central Bank of Kenya slapped five top banks— KCB, Equity, Standard Chartered, DTB and Cooperative Bank—a total of Ksh392 million in penalties over alleged violations, which helped persons to transact the billions of shillings lost in the National Youth Service (NYS) scandal. The probe could see dozens of senior bankers hounded to the courts to answer to charges of breaches in the Kenya’s Anti-Money Laundering/Combating Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) laws and…
BY ANTONY MUTUNGA Kenya’s economy experienced one of its toughest years in 2017 when it faced, among others, a prolonged electioneering, adverse weather conditions and a slow down in credit access. Businesses suffered the most leading to job losses and in some extreme situations, their closure. As a result, according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), the economy recorded a mere growth of 4.9% in that year, the slowest margin in the last five years, compared to the 5.9% in 2016. With the resulting stagnation in business growth and job loses, banks felt the pinch even more as…
BY DAVID ONJILI D espite the recent revelations that Treasury holds close to Sh8 billion from betting companies, the Sports ministry is broke. The upgrading of Nyayo National Stadium that was to be completed in June 2018 has stalled. Contractors are owed more than Sh400 million. But all is not gloom. The country did have its fair share of sporting glory in the month of September; this is despite being plunged into mourning with the demise of sprinter Nicholas Bett, which occurred in Nandi County on August 8 2018 in a road accident. Glowing tributes were paid to the runner…