Story of the Day
Similar to cannabis, the growing legal acceptance of gambling in the United States and elsewhere is ushering a nascent class of digital technologies to support the burgeoning industry and address the regulatory complications involved. Yet what is underway doesn’t merely reflect another application of the typical tools in the fintech shed — regtech, payment processing, data mining, analytics, AI, loyalty programs and the like — to transform an industry. In the unique case of fintech and gambling, a causative relationship between the two is really bidirectional. Fintech’s increasing imprint on the gambling industry, after all, follows the imprint that gambling principles has already had on the design and course of fintech itself, where gamification is a universal pursuit in a bid to retain customers and investment is democratized and at times randomized on a fanciful whim —“Wall Street Bets,” anyone? Read more
Local Business and Finance Sponsored By Liquid Intelligent Technologies
Pan-African cross-border payment app Chipper Cash is set to acquire Zambian fintech company Zoona Transactions International, according to a statement shared with TechCabal. This acquisition will allow Chipper Cash, which has a self-reported user count of 5 million, to add new online services and a new agent network to its offerings. This move is also an expansion strategy by the company into Zambia. Read more: TechCabal
President Hakainde Hichilema has directed the Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry to ensure that business licenses costs are reduced to the barest minimum. Mr Hichilema says there is utmost need to ensure that fees he said are hurting business operations are addressed as quickly as possible in order to support local businesses to thrive. President Hichilema made the directive when he graced the 2022 Zambia Association of Manufacturers (ZAM) week at East Park Mall in Lusaka under the theme: “shifting the paradigm towards export led industrialization.” Read more: Lusaka Times
President Hakainde Hichilema has directed the North-western provincial administration to pursue all contractors that have abandoned construction works despite government having paid them. Mr Hichilema said law enforcement agencies should move in and investigate any contractor paid by government but has not completed the construction works. He said there is need to find a way of recovering all the money paid to contractors who have however, not done their work. Read more: Lusaka Times
Government has dedicated 4.4-million Euros towards addressing infrastructure and ICT at Chirundu, Mwami and Nakonde Border posts. Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry, Permanent Secretary, John Mulongoti says this is being done through the Zambia Border Posts Upgrading Project. Mr. Mulongoti says this effort is aimed at improving the border posts’ operations and boosting international trade for economic sustainability. Read more: ZNBC
International Business and Finance
Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo has sacked Charles Adu Boahen, the minister of state for finance, the presidency said on Monday (November 14) after allegations of impropriety were circulated by popular Ghanaian investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas. Mr Akufo-Addo made the decision after being “made aware of the allegations” against Mr Boahen in the documentary “Galamsey Economy” which is due to be aired on Monday for two days in the capital Accra. Read more: Africa News
China kept its benchmark lending rates unchanged for the third straight month on Monday, as a weaker yuan and persistent capital outflows continued to limit Beijing’s ability to ease monetary conditions to support the economy. But sluggish credit demand and a darkening growth outlook have prompted some traders and market analysts to predict a marginal reduction to the mortgage reference rate as early as next month to prop up the broader economy. Read more: Reuters
Goldman Sachs lowered its oil price forecast by $10 to $100 per barrel for the fourth quarter of 2022, citing rising Covid concerns in China and lack of clarity over the Group of Seven nations’ plan to cap Russian oil prices. “The market is right to be anxious about forward fundamentals, due to significant Covid cases in China and a lack of clarity on the implementation of the G7′s price cap,” Goldman economists including Jeffrey Currie said in a note, adding that more lockdowns in China would be equivalent to the deep production cuts imposed by OPEC+ of 2 million barrels a day. Read more: CNBC
S&P 500 futures fell early on Monday ahead of another batch of retail earnings to kick off a shortened week for the Thanksgiving holiday. Futures tied to the broad market index were lower by 0.35%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were lower by 84 points, or 0.25%. Nasdaq 100 futures were 0.33% lower. The major averages each posted an up day but a down week in the previous trading session. The Dow rose nearly 200 points, or 0.6%. The S&P climbed 0.5% and the Nasdaq Composite finished just 0.01% above the flat line.Read more: CNBC
Capital Markets Report
In 26 trades recorded yesterday, 159,867 shares were transacted resulting in a turnover of K203,169.66. A share price loss of K0.22 was recorded in Standard Chartered Bank Limited. Trading activity was also recorded in Copperbelt Energy Corporation Zambia, Zambeef and ZCCM. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed at 7,171.15 points, 1.16% points down from its previous close at 7,255.40 points. The market closed on a capitalization of K72,146,399,253.80 including Shoprite Holdings and K37,363,713,813.80 excluding Shoprite Holdings.