Africa

The surprise exit of Absa chief executive Daniel Mminele in April, only 15 months into the job, shows how much the South African group is still finding its way in the post-Barclays era. Mminele – Absa’s first black CEO – was seen in some quarters as losing a power struggle against an overwhelmingly white executive team. Can the next chief executive gain the authority to drive Absa’s revival?

Years of tough but successful IMF-led reforms have put Egypt in a great place to rebound strongly from Covid. Its future will be shaped by big infrastructure projects and by a plan to transform the nation into a powerhouse of green finance.

Whether doing a branch network tour or complying with regulation, Bank of Saint Helena boss Josephine George has a job that is like few other bankers’ anywhere.

Banque du Caire was on the cusp of completing a $500 million listing in London and Cairo last year when Covid hit. Its chairman Tarek Fayed meets Euromoney to talk about investing in people and digital – and why he still wants to complete a slimmed-down stock sale when conditions allow.

Emerging markets have regained some of the buoyancy lost during the early months of the coronavirus crisis, but analyst opinions hint at the difficulty of identifying which EM currencies investors should favour.

The rand is back to pre-pandemic levels despite little confidence in the South African government’s ability to revitalize its economy.

The BRICS economies, which between them represent 40% of the world population and 32% of its GDP, are a powerful force for the private banking industry as their economic engines drive wealth creation. But they are all distinct markets with their own unique opportunities and challenges.

As Gulf banks grapple with squeezed margins, low interest rates and over-banking, Egypt offers the opposite: high interest rates, low lending penetration and a largely unbanked population. It is no surprise that domestic and regional buyers are now circling.

The Egyptian bank is to launch a digital bank as Covid-19 accelerates the government’s push for a cashless society.

Africa’s most ambitious homegrown regional bank has a problem, and it is called Nigeria. If it doesn’t solve it, the Nigerian business will hamper Ecobank’s goal of banking 100 million people across the rest of the continent.

Analysts can see through the economic and fiscal shock to observe a country with its underlying strengths intact.

The coronavirus pandemic is intensifying the case for domestic bank M&A in Africa, but cross-border deals will be challenging to execute.

Unquantifiable risk as a result of Covid-19 made the complex deal unworkable.

Experienced mobile money market participants have given a cautious welcome to Ethiopia’s plans to liberalize its telecommunications market, but warn that the emergence of new transaction providers is far from certain.

In this Euromoney Livestream hosted by Euromoney’s Middle East and Africa editor, we discuss why the economic and health implications of Covid-19 have lead to calls for debt relief, what this might look like for Africa's recovery, and how debt management might look in the future.

Mainland Chinese firms invested $72.2 billion in Africa between 2014 and 2018, much of it through the Belt and Road Initiative. Now that Covid-19 has struck, there is a growing sense of unease in Beijing over calls to write off debt to stressed African states.

African governments and SOEs owe China more than $150 billion and Covid-19 is limiting their ability to repay. Will this usher in debt-trap diplomacy or are Chinese lenders playing a longer game?

Covid-19 has refocused attention on the urgent need to address long-term structural healthcare issues in Africa. Investors are now looking to put money to work in healthcare and banks are seeing an uptick in demand for project financing.

Private creditors and the Paris Club have agreed to collaborate on a debt standstill for low-income countries, but the process must be handled with care to avoid being more punitive than helpful.

Citi’s chief executive for Kenya and east Africa tells Euromoney how Kenya’s banks have come together to buy ventilators; how Covid-19 will accelerate the adoption of digital banking; and why the removal of the interest rate cap is more important than ever for Kenya’s SMEs.

EIB looks to help the most vulnerable and to encourage banks to take on more risk as it unveils a €5.2 billion package for non-EU countries.

Amid calls by the UN and the G20 for the private sector to do more, Citi has proposed a $100 billion coronavirus fund.

As Egypt ramps up measures to contain the coronavirus, CIB chairman Hisham Ezz Al-Arab tells Euromoney how the 2011 revolution has left the bank well prepared to deal with the current crisis.

Stakeholders agree that debt relief for Africa is essential, but are mulling what form this might take.

The fall in the oil price will benefit oil-importing countries such as Kenya, but the benefits may be lost because of the African continent's over-reliance on trade with China.

Africa’s oil exporters are feeling the pressure after the crash in the oil price and fears of the coronavirus Covid-19, as investors pull money from international bond markets.

The recent collapse in the oil price and Nigeria's (lack of) reaction to it echoes the way the country dealt with the crisis in 2015. Repetition of the same mistakes will only cause harm for Africa's largest economy.

Some organizations, drawn in by irresistible fees, can’t resist working with high-risk clients – but technology might offer a solution.

Kenyan property developer Acorn Holdings has issued a small but smartly structured bond programme, which will remove barriers to entry for local market bonds as local currency bonds retain appeal.

Ethiopia’s IMF deal is a notable step towards addressing its external imbalances and to opening up the country’s economy.