Absa opens Dubai DIFC office to expand Africa-Middle East trade
Expansion · completedThursday 29 October 2026
Absa Group has opened a new office in Dubai International Financial Centre under a DFSA Category 4 licence. The branch will serve trade and investment flows between Africa and the Gulf.
Absa's Gulf presence deepens its cross-border corporate and investment banking reach, following peers Standard Bank, Nedbank and Investec.
MTN Ghana and its separately incorporated Mobile Money Fintech Limited posted a combined profit after tax of about $670 million (GH₵7.75bn) for the nine months to September 2026, up 43 percent. The results cover the telco and its mobile money business, which became a separate company in March 2026.
Zenith Bank reported a nine-month profit before tax of about $690 million (N929bn), up 1.24 percent from the same period of 2025. Gross earnings fell 15 percent to about $2.1 billion (N2.87trn), while impairment charges dropped sharply.
The African Development Bank launched a HKD 2 billion five-year social bond due November 2031. The issue is a social bond placed in Hong Kong's market.
Nigeria-focused fintech OPay sold 16 million American depositary shares at $19 each, raising $300 million and valuing the company at about $4 billion. It rang the NYSE opening bell, but ThisDay reports that trading was temporarily held over an outstanding regulatory clarification in a foreign jurisdiction.
Afreximbank is raising a $1 billion syndicated loan that includes a tranche denominated in yuan, according to a paywalled report. The deal diversifies the bank's funding sources beyond dollar and euro markets.
