South Africa dominates Africa’s foreign exchange (FX) markets. Daily turnover of the rand, one of the most heavily traded emerging market currencies, amounts to almost $10bn. No other African country comes close to this. Egypt, the next largest FX hub, has a turnover of between $200m and $400m each day. In Nigeria and Kenya, daily volumes lie between $100m and $200m.
But despite this, African currencies are currently in vogue with the world’s investors. “There’s a huge amount of interest in them,” says Andrew Daley, managing director, global markets, at Standard Bank.
