A cocktail of an under-developed banking industry, favourable macroeconomic conditions and return on equity forecasts of up to 45%, means sub-Saharan Africa is now a highly attractive proposition.
Africa
Latest articles from Africa
Ghana's finance minister plans to spend oil wealth wisely
May 4, 2011Ghana's finance minister Kwabena Duffuor tells Brian Caplen how he is taking measures to ensure that his country's new oil wealth is spent on securing its long-term economic prosperity.
Afren’s high yield bond attracts energy and emerging market investors
May 4, 2011Afren's high-yield bond issue earlier this year attracted interest from emerging market investors as well as specialist energy players, two investor groups who rarely overlap in the bond markets.
Angolan business offers a lifeline for Portugal's banks
May 4, 2011Portuguese banks have found that investment in its former colony Angola has provided growth at a time when its own domestic market is facing recession.
Nigeria's central bank governor tackles reform head on
March 15, 2011Nigeria's central bank governor Lamido Sanusi is The Banker's Central Bank Governor of the Year for 2011, both globally and for Africa. He explains his latest thinking on the reform agenda for Nigerian banking.
A step in the right direction
February 23, 2011The relative resiliance of Africa's financial markets to social and political unrest in the north, and to the default of Côte d'Ivoire on last year's global bond, suggest that the continent's markets have taken one more step towards greater sophistication. Investors are increasingly differentiating one from another.
Africa engages the bond markets
February 22, 2011Despite a sovereign default and the impact of rolling popular uprisings across north Africa, many are increasingly hopeful about the prospects for Africa's debt markets, as improving economic conditions and growing international appetite look set to underpin further new issuance.
Harsh reality hits South Sudan
February 18, 2011Conflict, corruption and too many failed businesses left it with a sclerotic banking sector with little appetite for risk, but South Sudan hopes its status as a newly created nation state will encourage investors to rethink their approach to an economy that hopes to underpin its regeneration with its rich reserves of oil.
Private equity firms scramble over Africa's potential
January 31, 2011A banking sector ripe for development, family businesses ready to go global and resource-rich nations with cash aplenty have meant private equity firms are buzzing over Africa's untapped potential.
The Gulf's Islamic banks are targeting Africa's opportunities
January 31, 2011Large financial institutions from the Gulf are increasingly buying stakes in local banks in west Africa to tap into the region's sizeable Muslim population.