Company news in brief

MTN to offer mobile banking in Nigeria

MTN Group will apply for a mobile banking licence in Nigeria and plans to launch the service there next year, its CEO said on Tuesday, further embedding the South African telecoms company in its biggest but increasingly problematic market.

Nigeria announced last month that it would allow telecom companies to provide banking services, aiming to give millions of Nigerians without bank accounts access to so-called mobile money services, a policy that has been very successful in Kenya.

MTN runs Nigeria's biggest mobile phone network serving 56 million people, but it is also involved in a dispute with the authorities after the central bank said it illegally transferred US$8.1 billion overseas.

Separately, it has been slapped with a US$2 billion Nigerian tax bill and whether those issues could influence how quickly MTN secures a licence remains to be seen.

“We will be applying for a payment service banking licence in Nigeria in the next month or so, and if all goes according to plan, we will also be launching Mobile Money in Nigeria probably around Q2 of 2019,” Rob Shuter told a telecoms conference in Cape Town.

-Nampa/Reuters



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German officials sound China alarm, Huawei exclusion

Senior German officials are planning a last-ditch drive to convince the government to consider excluding Chinese firms such as Huawei from building the country's 5G infrastructure amid concerns this could compromise national security.

The behind-the-scenes push in Berlin, which comes after decisions by Australia and the United States to ban Chinese suppliers from 5G, has emerged at a late stage, with Germany expected to start its 5G auctions in early 2019.

Because of this momentum, officials, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said it was unclear whether the initiative would succeed.

But the push highlights the extent of the concern in some Berlin ministries about a Chinese role in building Germany's next generation mobile network, despite the lack of a vigorous public debate here about the security dimensions of 5G.

“There is serious concern. If it were up to me we would do what the Australians are doing,” one senior German official involved in the internal 5G debate in Berlin told Reuters.

-Nampa/Reuters



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Nike hires former Coca-Cola executive as president

Nike Inc on Tuesday named former Coca-Cola Co executive Craig Williams as president of its sports shoes unit Jordan Brand.

Williams, who will take charge on Jan. 14, most recently headed the world's biggest beverage maker's partnership with fast-food chain McDonald's.

He will replace Larry Miller who will become the chairman of the newly created Jordan Brand advisory board, Nike said.

Jordan Brand is a premium brand of footwear, apparel and accessories inspired by the legacy of former basketball player Michael Jordan.

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Dell taps banks to raise more cash

Dell Technologies Inc is working with investment banks to add more cash to a US$21.7 billion offer to buy back a “tracking stock” tied to its software company VMware Inc as it nears a deal with investors, people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

The move comes after several investors in the tracking stock, including billionaire Carl Icahn, said they would not accept Dell's first offer, arguing it transfers too much value to Dell's owners, founder Michael Dell and private equity firm Silver Lake.

The acquisition of the publicly traded tracking stock would result in Dell becoming a publicly listed company without an initial public offering (IPO). Dell needs a majority of the holders of the tracking stock to approve the deal. A vote on the tracking stock offer has been scheduled for Dec. 11.

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Credit Suisse investigated by Geneva prosecutors

Geneva prosecutors said on Tuesday they are looking at whether Credit Suisse exercised adequate oversight of money deposited in its accounts that belonged to Turkish investors who suffered losses.

Two independent asset managers who used Credit Suisse accounts to deposit money from wealthy Turkish clients are suspected of covering up losses linked to the Turkish lira's collapse in 2013.

Prosecutors recently began investigating whether Credit Suisse should have done more to halt transactions that led to losses, the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper reported.

Geneva prosecutors confirmed they had expanded an existing criminal investigation to include four people employed by Credit Suisse SA at the time.

“They have been heard as defendants of complicity in fraud and money laundering, with this part of the procedure still in progress,” the prosecutors said in a statement.

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Snap reveals US subpoenas on IPO disclosures

The US Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission have subpoenaed Snap Inc for information about its March 2017 initial public offering, the social media app maker told Reuters on Tuesday.

Snap said in a statement it has responded to the government subpoenas and other requests for information.

The previously unreported federal inquiries follow an ongoing shareholder lawsuit in which investors allege that Snap misled the public about how competition from Facebook Inc's Instagram service had affected the company's growth.

Snap said it believes that the federal regulators “are investigating issues related to the previously disclosed allegations asserted in the class action about our IPO disclosures.”

“While we do not have complete visibility into these investigations, our understanding is that the DOJ is likely focused on IPO disclosures relating to competition from Instagram,” the company said.

Snap's Snapchat messaging app has posted disappointing user growth since the company's US$3.4 billion IPO, and despite above-expectations sales growth and narrowing losses, its shares have tumbled. They closed at US$6.71 on Tuesday, down from their initial offering price of US$17.

-Nampa/Reuters