Latest articles from Africa

Top 100 African Banks ranking 2018: reasons to be cheerful

May 1, 2018

African banks have reason to celebrate, as The Banker's Top 100 ranking shows. Having survived a tough economic period, the figures indicate an improving outlook. James King reports.

JPM Treasury Services Team teaser

The women behind JPMorgan’s EMEA transaction banking business

April 3, 2018

JPMorgan has long been committed to diversity in its workforce and its approach is yielding results. Joy Macknight talks to the women heading the US bank’s Europe, the Middle East and Africa treasury services business lines to gain insight into the drivers of change in the region. 

Cairo teaser

Sisi's reforms start to pay off for Egypt

April 3, 2018

President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has pushed through business-friendly reforms that would have been unthinkable in Egypt a few years ago, including cutting fuel subsidies. The results have been impressive, bringing praise from the IMF. So is the optimism prevailing in the country justified? James King reports.

CIB teaser

Bouyant banks shape Egypt's vision for 2030

April 3, 2018

Egypt’s banks are throwing their weight behind extending financial inclusion to small and micro businesses, as well as the country's wider population as part of the national Vision 2030 strategy, helped by changes to the bankruptcy system and hopes of lower interest rates. James King reports.

Hala El Said teaser

Egypt’s planning minister outlines decentralisation and development plans

April 3, 2018

Hala El Said, Egypt’s minister of planning and administrative reform, talks to James King about government strategies to cut unemployment through greater private sector involvement and the decentralisation of investment to the governorates. 

Why MENA makes sense for the EBRD

March 26, 2018

Where once post-Communist countries attracted the lion’s share of European Bank for Reconstruction and Development investment, destinations such as Turkey and Egypt now dominate, signalling a change of focus south and east of the Mediterranean. 

Adesola Adeduntan teaser

First Bank of Nigeria CEO seeks to complete transformation

March 1, 2018

Adesola Adeduntan, the chief executive and managing director of First Bank of Nigeria, talks to James King about his digitalisation strategy and the fight to reclaim the position of Nigeria’s number one lender.

Elizabeth Rossiello teaser

BitPesa eases FX pain in Africa

January 2, 2018

Elizabeth Rossiello, founder and chief executive of BitPesa, talks to Joy Macknight about using Bitcoin and its underlying technology, blockchain, to resolve currency exchange issues in African markets. 

Akinwumi Adesina teaser

Akinwumi A Adesina: Africa's nutrition challenge

January 2, 2018

Africa's most urgent problem is that of poor nutrition, which is responsible for stunting children's growth – and, ultimately, their future economic prospects. But the continent has the right tools to end malnutrition if its leaders exercise their combined will, writes the president of the African Development Bank.

Archer Mangueira teaser

Archer Mangueira: getting Angola's import-export balance right

January 2, 2018

The Angolan finance minister talks to James King about his reform plans to bolster foreign exchange reserves while making the country more self-sufficient in key goods.