NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenya’s second-largest mortgage lender Housing Finance posted a 74 percent jump in 2011 profit, as its loan book grew by a third despite high interest rates, it said on Wednesday, adding it planned to raise long-term financing abroad.
Housing Finance said its pretax profit rose to 975.8 million shillings, while its loan book grew by 31 percent to 24.2 billion shillings and earnings per share climbed 26 percent to 2.70 shillings.
“We are optimistic that we can maintain the growth curve in the current financial year on the back of long term financing which will shield the company from current market fluctuation in the money market,” Frank Ireri, the managing director of the lender, told an investor briefing.
He said the firm’s net interest income rose to 1.9 billion shillings from 1.4 billion shillings.
Concerned with the huge fluctuations in short-term funding instruments, Housing Finance said in October it was considering floating a 25-year housing bond targeting pension funds and real estate investment trusts.
Ireri said the company was now seeking to raise funds abroad as opposed to the bond, because of the high domestic rates.
“We cannot come in with a bond right now because guys will ask for very high interest rates. We are borrowing an offshore debt,” Ireri said.
The mortgage lender raised 7 billion shillings through a seven-year bond issue in October 2010. The bond had a fixed rate set at 8.5 percent and a variable rate pegged at 3 percent above the 182-day Treasury bill rate.
High interest rates and double digit inflation in Kenya are hurting the real estate industry, as developers and buyers struggle to meet financing requirements, property pricing index firm HassConsult said in January.
Shilling depreciation for most of 2011 also slowed the flow of real estate developments and hurt the industry as construction material costs rose.
“There is a lot of imported content in construction and with the exchange rate going crazy and interest rates raising last year some developers slowed down,” said Ireri.
“The impact may still be there this year, but in 2013 we may find that there is a housing shortage … and there will be high demand again.”
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2012年2月22日星期三
2012年2月19日星期日
World body blacklists Thailand for money laundering, terrorism financing
Thailand was yesterday identified by an intergovernmental organisation as uncooperative in the global efforts to combat money-laundering and terrorism financing.
The move came only days after bomb blasts in Bangkok and discovery of explosive devices linked to terrorism.
The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF), in its statement on Thursday (yesterday Bangkok time), said Thailand was one of 15 countries that have begun taking steps to combat terrorist financing and money-laundering but have yet to make sufficient progress in addressing the deficiencies in their regulations.
Deputy Premier and Finance Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong yesterday expressed concern that the move could adversely affect Thailand’s image and its economy.
He said the government would ask the Anti-Money Laundering Office to explain the situation.
“As far as I know, Thailand has been requested by the FATF to issue an anti-money-laundering law that complies with international standards but we have failed to do so, which led to the country being blacklisted,” Kittiratt said.
Songtham Pinto, director of the Bank of Thailand’s macro-economy division, said he expected short-term negative impact on tourism as a result of the FATF move and the earlier bomb scare in Bangkok, which was linked to international terrorism.
Siam Commercial Bank president Kannika Chalit-aphon urged the government to expedite the legislation.
She expected the impact on investor confidence to be short-term.
“There could be some worries and impacts on investments in certain industries. It is not a big problem,” she said.
Tevin Vongvanich, chief financial officer of PTT, said the company was evaluating the expected impact on the company’s financial transactions after Thailand was listed among watch-list countries that are not active in enforcing legislation to combat money-laundering and terrorism financing.
In general, the transactions may take a longer time for financial scrutiny.
However, PTT is confident that the downgrade will not affect its financial-transaction costs.
“At PTT, we believe that our existing customers understand this matter, and this will not affect the financial transactions between us and existing clients. But we may have to explain more to new clients,” he said.
Paiboon Nalintharangkul, chairman of the Federation of Thai Capital Market Organisations (FeTCO), said the government would have to pay attention to this and proceed with an amendment to its money-laundering law.
Being on such a blacklist could affect the competitiveness of the private sector, he said, while investing overseas may require more complicated procedures.
Foreign investors may not be concerned about this and foreign capital will continue to flow in, seeking higher returns as the country’s economic fundamentals are sound, he explained.
On the contrary, there may be a problem for capital outflow, he said.
For example, wealth management and private funds or funds with overseas investment policies may find difficulties investing overseas due to likely more complicated procedures for checking sources of investment.
Opposition Democrat politician Korbsak Sabhavasu, formerly a deputy prime minister, said this latest development was not good for Thailand’s reputation, as most of the countries identified by the FATF as uncooperative had a negative image regarding money-laundering and terrorism financing.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday cancelled its news conference on the matter.
In its statement, the FATF said: “Despite Thailand’s high-level political commitment to address its strategic deficiencies, Thailand has not made sufficient progress in implementing its action plan, and certain strategic deficiencies remain.”
It recommended that Thailand should adequately criminalise terrorist financing, establish and implement adequate procedures to identify and freeze terrorist assets, and further strengthen supervision of money-laundering and terrorism financing.
In addition to Thailand, the other countries on the latest FATF list of non-cooperative countries are Bolivia, Burma, Cuba, Ethiopia, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sao Tome and Principe, Sri Lanka, Syria, Tanzania, and Turkey.
-The Nation/Asia News Network
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The move came only days after bomb blasts in Bangkok and discovery of explosive devices linked to terrorism.
The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF), in its statement on Thursday (yesterday Bangkok time), said Thailand was one of 15 countries that have begun taking steps to combat terrorist financing and money-laundering but have yet to make sufficient progress in addressing the deficiencies in their regulations.
Deputy Premier and Finance Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong yesterday expressed concern that the move could adversely affect Thailand’s image and its economy.
He said the government would ask the Anti-Money Laundering Office to explain the situation.
“As far as I know, Thailand has been requested by the FATF to issue an anti-money-laundering law that complies with international standards but we have failed to do so, which led to the country being blacklisted,” Kittiratt said.
Songtham Pinto, director of the Bank of Thailand’s macro-economy division, said he expected short-term negative impact on tourism as a result of the FATF move and the earlier bomb scare in Bangkok, which was linked to international terrorism.
Siam Commercial Bank president Kannika Chalit-aphon urged the government to expedite the legislation.
She expected the impact on investor confidence to be short-term.
“There could be some worries and impacts on investments in certain industries. It is not a big problem,” she said.
Tevin Vongvanich, chief financial officer of PTT, said the company was evaluating the expected impact on the company’s financial transactions after Thailand was listed among watch-list countries that are not active in enforcing legislation to combat money-laundering and terrorism financing.
In general, the transactions may take a longer time for financial scrutiny.
However, PTT is confident that the downgrade will not affect its financial-transaction costs.
“At PTT, we believe that our existing customers understand this matter, and this will not affect the financial transactions between us and existing clients. But we may have to explain more to new clients,” he said.
Paiboon Nalintharangkul, chairman of the Federation of Thai Capital Market Organisations (FeTCO), said the government would have to pay attention to this and proceed with an amendment to its money-laundering law.
Being on such a blacklist could affect the competitiveness of the private sector, he said, while investing overseas may require more complicated procedures.
Foreign investors may not be concerned about this and foreign capital will continue to flow in, seeking higher returns as the country’s economic fundamentals are sound, he explained.
On the contrary, there may be a problem for capital outflow, he said.
For example, wealth management and private funds or funds with overseas investment policies may find difficulties investing overseas due to likely more complicated procedures for checking sources of investment.
Opposition Democrat politician Korbsak Sabhavasu, formerly a deputy prime minister, said this latest development was not good for Thailand’s reputation, as most of the countries identified by the FATF as uncooperative had a negative image regarding money-laundering and terrorism financing.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday cancelled its news conference on the matter.
In its statement, the FATF said: “Despite Thailand’s high-level political commitment to address its strategic deficiencies, Thailand has not made sufficient progress in implementing its action plan, and certain strategic deficiencies remain.”
It recommended that Thailand should adequately criminalise terrorist financing, establish and implement adequate procedures to identify and freeze terrorist assets, and further strengthen supervision of money-laundering and terrorism financing.
In addition to Thailand, the other countries on the latest FATF list of non-cooperative countries are Bolivia, Burma, Cuba, Ethiopia, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sao Tome and Principe, Sri Lanka, Syria, Tanzania, and Turkey.
-The Nation/Asia News Network
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2012年2月6日星期一
Tanzania: U.S. Energy Investors Set to Pay Dar a Visit
New York — Executives from some leading US energy companies are scheduled to arrive in the country on Wednesday to explore opportunities in power-generation and fuel-supply projects, a State Department official said on Saturday.
The public-private energy trade mission is led by Johnnie Carson, the US assistant secretary of state for African Affairs, and is co-sponsored by the Corporate Council on Africa, a grouping of American businesses with interests in Africa.
The delegation will discuss “specific challenges to the attraction of private investment for energy infrastructure projects,” according to a State Department briefing paper.
A series of talks with Tanzanian government officials is planned for the two-day visit, which is part of a larger trip that begins in Mozambique on February 6 and includes stops in Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana.
“Implementation of large projects is crucial to meeting the two goals of addressing huge African generation capacity needs and providing the lowest per unit cost of electricity possible,” the State Department briefing adds.
“The historical impediments to such private sector involvement include uncertain legal and regulatory regimes, inconsistent support of cost reflective electricity pricing, and insufficient availability of long-term, limited recourse financing from private financial institutions.”
Currently, one of the US-based companies, Symbion, has been contracted by Tanesco to produce power as part of an emergency plan to address electricity shortage in the country.
The company, which bought another controversial firm, Dowans, is producing power from its Ubungo base as well as in Dodoma.
Copyright © 2012 The Citizen. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.The public-private energy trade mission is led by Johnnie Carson, the US assistant secretary of state for African Affairs, and is co-sponsored by the Corporate Council on Africa, a grouping of American businesses with interests in Africa.
The delegation will discuss “specific challenges to the attraction of private investment for energy infrastructure projects,” according to a State Department briefing paper.
A series of talks with Tanzanian government officials is planned for the two-day visit, which is part of a larger trip that begins in Mozambique on February 6 and includes stops in Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana.
“Implementation of large projects is crucial to meeting the two goals of addressing huge African generation capacity needs and providing the lowest per unit cost of electricity possible,” the State Department briefing adds.
“The historical impediments to such private sector involvement include uncertain legal and regulatory regimes, inconsistent support of cost reflective electricity pricing, and insufficient availability of long-term, limited recourse financing from private financial institutions.”
Currently, one of the US-based companies, Symbion, has been contracted by Tanesco to produce power as part of an emergency plan to address electricity shortage in the country.
The company, which bought another controversial firm, Dowans, is producing power from its Ubungo base as well as in Dodoma.
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