Page 19 - Alan Pullinger News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

FirstRand Declares Dividend in Expectation of South Africa Recovery Bloomberg 3/4/2021 Roxanne Henderson © Bloomberg Commuters wearing protective face masks cross Strand Street in Cape Town, South Africa, on Monday, Jan. 11, 2021. The pandemic and restrictions imposed to contain it have devastated Africa's most industrialized economy, and the extension of curbs that came into effect at the height of the holiday season bode ill for efforts to engineer a rebound. (Bloomberg) -- FirstRand Ltd. declared an interim dividend after withholding its final payout last year while Af...

FirstRand has reintroduced its dividend after it recovered faster than expected from the depth of the Covid-19 pandemic. Although first-half earnings are down from a year ago, it says the economy has rebounded better than it anticipated. South Africa’s largest bank by market value held back on a final dividend last June after making significantly larger allowances for bad debts due to the hard lockdown, which affected the ability of its customers to repay their loans. Last April, the Reserve Bank’s Prudential Authority advised banks to preserve capital due to the potential stress Covid-19...