A tech-savvy, young population and a fast-growing economy are resulting in rapid branch expansion by Turkey’s domestic branches.

A Surendran, a general manager and head of international banking with Federal Bank of India, tells The Banker about the bank's innovative payments strategy designed to improve access to banking channels and boost the provision of electronic transactions.

Singapore and Hong Kong continue to attract the highest levels of foreign direct investment among Asian international finance centres. But there is change afoot elsewhere, with increasing levels of investment in Beijing causing it to replace Shanghai as the third most attractive Asian IFC for FDI.

Armed with deep pools of liquidity, many Middle Eastern banks are exploring new avenues of growth, from expanding their regional presence to concentrating on innovation within the Islamic finance sphere.

Angola’s vast oil reserves have helped it rebuild its shattered infrastructure and become one of the world’s fastest growing countries. But the country needs to develop the rest of its economy quickly to reduce its vulnerability to a fall in oil prices and tackle its high levels of poverty.

The discovery of vast oil reserves off the shore of Angola has significantly improved the country's economic outlook, with the government licensing the exploration and structuring the taxation of production in such a way that profits from the oil will filter down to benefit the entire population.

Angola’s banks are likely to grow faster than any others in Africa over the next decade, and they are also among the continent’s most profitable. But they will have to start innovating as increased competition and new regulations look set to make their presence felt.

Angola’s government has presided over 10 years of peace and booming economic growth, and neither looks likely to be disturbed in the foreseeable future. Nonetheless, managing the expectations of Angolans over the next decade as the memory of civil war fades will become harder. 

Bolivia is about to tap the international capital markets for the first time in a century, a move which its finance minister says reflects its impressive economic performance of the past few years.