Failed South African lender African Bank Investments (Abil) plans to re-list on the Johannesburg exchange in February and may expand into secured lending and insurance, its government-appointed supervisor was quoted saying by a local newspaper on Friday, Reuters reported. Tom Winterboer, appointed by the central bank to restructure the unsecured lender after it faltered under a mountain of bad debts in August, also told Business Day the bank had collected "well over" 2 billion rand ($182 million) from borrowers over the past month.

Perhaps because they had no access to banking during apartheid, poor South Africans have been gorging themselves on credit ever since. A glut of consumers impatient to enjoy a middle-class lifestyle has made the fortunes of payday lenders, which charge sky-high interest rates for smallish unsecured loans. Yet, after weeks on the ropes, African Bank, the biggest purveyor of such loans, has had to be rescued from near-bankruptcy, The Economist reported. South Africa’s authorities insist there is no broader rot in the financial system.

Bond investors in African Bank Investments Ltd., who sent prices down by more than 50 percent this week, are joining shareholders in signaling the South African provider of unsecured loans is running out of options, Bloomberg News reported today. The price on African Bank’s $350 million of bonds due February 2017 slumped to 45 percent of face value yesterday, from 99 on Aug. 1, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That drove the yield to 47.49 percent, surging more than 29 percentage points the past two days. The extra yield investors demand to hold the bonds rather than equivalent U.S.

African Bank Investments Ltd., South Africa’s largest unsecured loan provider, lost about 90 percent of its market value after forecasting a record loss and saying it needs to tap investors for $791 million of fresh capital, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. African Bank is reeling after saying its chief executive officer resigned, losses would be at a record this year and it would need to tap investors for funds for the second time in less than a year.

Civil engineering company Protech Khuthele is applying for liquidation. This was announced in a Sens statement released on Tuesday, Moneyweb reported. At the end of May, Protech announced that it had voluntarily started with for business rescue proceedings, filing on June 2. It said it had received demands for immediate repayment for project expenses which it was unable to meet. "The main cash flows that Protech currently receives are payments from debtors for current and completed projects.

South Africa’s credit rating was cut to one level above junk by Standard & Poor’s as the longest mining strike in the nation’s history threatens to drag the economy into recession, curbing government revenue, Bloomberg News reported. The foreign-currency rating was lowered to BBB- from BBB and the local-currency rating was reduced to BBB+ from A-, S&P said in a statement yesterday. The outlook on the ratings were raised to stable from negative. Fitch Ratings also lowered the outlook on its BBB grading to negative from stable.

Yawning deficits and labor turmoil have made South Africa's economy vulnerable to capital flight as investors pull back from risky markets, the country's central bank said Thursday. "The current-account deficit could pose a marked risk to the stability of the domestic financial system," the South African Reserve Bank said in its semiannual review of the country's financial stability, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Julius Malema, the leader of a party that advocates nationalizing South Africa’s mines and banks, was provisionally declared insolvent, a ruling that may prevent him from being elected to Parliament, Bloomberg News reported. The North Gauteng High Court issued the ruling today, Adrian Lackay, a spokesman for the South African Revenue Service, said by phone from Pretoria, the capital. “He has the opportunity to contest the sequestration order before it is made final on May 26,” he said.

South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan will struggle to keep government debt under control even as he pledges to stick to spending targets, Bloomberg reported. Gross debt will climb to 48 percent of gross domestic product in the year through March 2017 from an estimated 43 percent last year, the National Treasury said in its mid-term budget report released in Cape Town today. That’s mainly due to rising debt costs and tax receipts falling short of targets.

South Africa's Investec, Nedbank and Sanlam said on Thursday they had exposure to a failing building supply company First Strut, whose chairman was shot dead in June, Reuters reported. Trade in First Strut's 925 million rand ($95 million) worth of bonds was suspended last week following an application to place the firm in liquidation, according to a stock exchange filing. Its chairman, Jeff Wiggill, was found dead with a bullet wound to his head next to a luxury Bentley automobile in the early hours of June 20 in the Soweto township that borders Johannesburg.