It’s goodbye cash, hello mobile wallets and digital payments, as Egypt uses financial technology to streamline payroll, keep money in the financial system and improve tax collection.

In a sweeping interview with Euromoney Africa, Ecobank’s CEO makes the case for pan-African banking and says technological innovation will finally make that business model thrive.

As Denny Kalyalya’s first term as Zambia’s central bank governor draws to a close, he reflects on the need for IMF support, the currency and debt crisis that engulfed the country two years ago and his efforts to deliver a recovery for the long term.

Following Mozambique's default, is it time to reassess which other African Eurobond issuers might follow suit – and what options are open to issuers – given deteriorating finances and rising global interest rates?

Rwanda is one of the most competitive economies in Africa, thanks to reforms and an open-door approach to foreign investment. Its banking landscape has been transformed and bankers are keen to turn Kigali into a financial centre serving the region, though they admit it has a long way to go.

Barclays’ exit from the continent shows how banks based in developed countries are either unable or unwilling to support growth in emerging markets. But for institutions with a focus on Africa, the departure of such international rivals makes banking in the region look even more attractive.

Barclays’ ownership has hobbled some of its biggest businesses in Africa. Now Maria Ramos, chief executive of the Johannesburg-listed successor company that makes up the bulk of Barclays Africa, tells Euromoney Africa about the challenges she faces in extricating Absa and the rest of the network from the London-based group.

Currency devaluations and swings in commodity prices have taken their toll on many a private equity investment in Africa in recent years, particularly for those who invested at the height of the Africa bull market between 2005 and 2013. These days, sponsors are picking their targets carefully, with a focus on domestic consumers and non-commodity exporters.

New recruits show bank sees tangible business from Belt and Road; some will be new hires, others existing staff being moved.

Investors have welcomed Nigeria’s new FX regime that was merged with the interbank rate in August, but doubts remain, as the market still grapples with multiple official rates.

Global finance needs to believe in the progress it can drive to meet environmental challenges.

Mid-sized banks moving quickly to take advantage of credit growth: focus on organic rather than acquisitive growth could be a positive.

Qatar’s financial sector might not be the only one to struggle under a blockade imposed on the country since June by a coalition of Middle Eastern states.

Investors have misconceptions about the scale of its retrenchment; growth and asset quality recovery likely to increase through 2018.

Sovereign targets credit uplift for euro admission; Lazard advises on SOE restructuring.

Iraq’s former industry minister, Mohammed Alderajy, is brutally honest about the country’s culture of corruption and resistance to reform. The banking sector is far from immune. He says a new attitude is needed if Iraq is to improve its prospects for reconstruction.

After years of discussion and an agonizing wait for regulatory approval, HSBC’s securities joint venture in China – the first to have majority foreign control – is approaching launch. Senior figures explain the process and what the JV will look like.

Banks in Qatar have been hit hard by its powerful neighbours’ unexpected blockade, but finance, just like other sectors of the Qatari economy, is finding ways to cope with this sudden realignment of regional alliances.

Amr El-Garhy is Egypt’s ninth finance minister in a little over six years – and after a revolution, a coup d’état and last year’s surprise currency flotation, the Egyptian economy is in desperate need of stability. El-Garhy talks to Euromoney about the challenges facing him and the country.

President Mauricio Macri’s economic inheritance was toxic; his policy of gradual fiscal realignment looks like it will lead to success in this year’s crucial mid-term elections, but the country desperately needs investment to maintain the transition.

Low oil prices have put Oman’s government under pressure, while regional political turmoil could make life even more uncomfortable. A new economic model is called for, but can the leaders in Muscat find one quickly enough?

The surprise victory of Donald Trump in last year’s US election stopped Mexican M&A in its tracks, but as the stock market and the peso started recover in 2017, so too did Mexican corporate appetite for acquisitions, not least in the US.

It is not just corporations and states that have built up record debt levels: the indebtedness of the booming sub-sovereign market – especially among state-owned enterprises – can be difficult to see until something goes wrong. Should investors be spooked?

Public banks enjoy competitive advantage and dominate banking sector; growing fiscal deficits threatened to end strong run of economic growth.

Euromoney is in the Socar Tower in Baku, Azerbaijan, about a mile from the Caspian Sea. Here, two members of the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) holding company’s executive team are describing a complex gas pipeline project reaching from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz gas field in the Caspian, through Azerbaijan and Georgia, the length of Turkey and ultimately across Greece, Albania, the Adriatic Sea and into Italy.

To John Woods, chief investment officer for Credit Suisse Private Bank in Asia, Belt and Road is a megatrend: one of those overarching themes that play out over many decades. His job is to translate that into an investable form for high net-worth clients.

To Gordon French, head of global banking and markets for Asia Pacific at HSBC, Belt and Road is “a supercharger.”

BRI may be hard to define, but it is already working wonders in parts of a region crying out for good infrastructure. Global and regional lenders are happy to go along for the ride.

For UOB, the announcement of One Belt, One Road in 2013 was welcome vindication. Two years earlier, the Singapore bank had set up a foreign direct advisory unit based principally on Chinese overseas direct investment into southeast Asia. “The great beneficiary of our service over the last five years has been Chinese corporates,” says Sam Cheong, head of the unit. “This trend is just beginning.”

A close neighbour with a large infrastructure deficit, southeast Asia is a natural target for China’s Belt and Road Initiative, but when do mutual benefits for China and the region become regional dominance for the Asian giant?