The Banker’s Top 100 ranking of African banks shows an upward trend in Tier 1 capital and assets and profits for the region.

Egypt has a new prime minister and a new economic reform programme, but will anything change? How will the new government of Dr Ahmed Nazif provide the economic stimulus the country desperately needs? Stephen Timewell reports.

South Africa’s market potential lies in extending services to poorer, unbanked areas, so how will a foreign bank fair in this environment?

Political troubles have had little impact on the region’s banking sector, judging by this year’s Top 100 ranking.

After years of mismanagement, the Central African States Development Bank has made a remarkable financial recovery in just three years, under the stewardship of president Anicet Georges Dologuélé. By Fabien Buliard.
The Central African States Development Bank (La Banque de Développement des Etats de l’Afrique Centrale – BDEAC) is sparing no effort to restore its credibility, following a period of dormancy throughout the 1990s in which it ceased all lending activities to focus on reimbursing its debt and recovering a staggering amount of outstanding payments.

A burgeoning oil economy and the government’s commitment to combat corruption is attracting foreign bankers once more to post-war Angola, writes Steven Swindells.

All the key industries, large and small, figure in the government’s roadmap to better economic health.

Will the government’s plans to develop the oil and gas sector come to fruition? James Eedes looks at the problems that must be tackled.