Deals
Diamond’s Atlas Mara Pushes Currency Trading to Boost Profit
- Trading unit doubles revenue as net interest income slides
- Company benefited from volatility in Mozambique metical
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Atlas Mara Ltd., the bank acquirer that’s been battered by an economic slump across sub-Saharan Africa, has turned to one of the businesses co-founder Bob Diamond knows best to boost revenue: currency trading.
An “exceptional performance” from “customer flow forex trading” helped to push Atlas Mara’s total revenue up 15 percent to $177 million for the first nine months of 2016, the company said in a statement Tuesday. Started by the former chief executive officer of Barclays Plc, Atlas Mara has found a profitable niche in volatile currencies like the Mozambique metical and Botswana pula, helping it overcome mounting bad loans and make $4 million in net income for the period.