Societe Generale has long been active in promoting finance for small and medium-sized enterprises in Africa.

In a transformative year for capital markets in the Middle East, HSBC stands out as the region’s best investment bank, reclaiming the title it last won in 2017.

Equity Bank has been involved in healthcare provision in Kenya since 2015, when it established Equity Afia as an integrated, scalable and sustainable healthcare delivery model through its nonprofit foundation.

“During the first quarter our assets increased by 15% due to net new money, transaction revenues are up year over year 55%, our lending share has grown 25% compared to a year ago and our costs are down 1%,” says Ali Janoudi, head of Middle East and Africa for wealth management at UBS.

Ghana’s banking sector went through severe challenges in 2018 after the central bank’s asset quality review in 2017 revealed several structural challenges, including poor corporate governance, poor risk-management practices and regulatory non-compliance.

One of the first things Nigeria’s Guaranty Trust Bank did with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic was to get in touch with local authorities to see how the bank could help. Recognizing that the fragile public healthcare system would struggle to cope with the predicted number of patients, it offered to set up a care facility for people with Covid-19.

Banking is evolving in Saudi Arabia – the Gulf’s largest economy – with government and regulatory initiatives boosting growth in the sector.

As the Middle East enters a new phase of development, one in which governments can no longer rely on endless petrodollars and in which economies built on global trade and travel will have to adapt to survive, it will need banks with outstanding M&A and advisory capabilities. Citi is such a bank.

At a time of global economic retrenchment, dollar volatility, slowing trade flows and border closures, Africa needs deeper localization of markets and financing. Standard Bank’s expertise in these fields makes it the clear choice for best investment bank in Africa this year.

Saudi Arabia’s Al-Rajhi is named the region's best bank in this year’s Euromoney Awards for Excellence.

First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) developed its sustainability framework in 2017 under four pillars: sustainable banking, being a responsible employer, having a positive social impact and excellence in governance, integrity and risk management.

Under the stewardship of chief executive Jean-Christophe Durand, formerly head of BNP Paribas’s Middle East and Africa operations, National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) embarked on a radical transformation programme in 2017 that delivered impressive results during the awards period.

When the Covid-19 pandemic reached Qatar and foreign exchange houses were forced to close, a customer contacted Commercial Bank of Qatar (CB) with concerns that his domestic workers were no longer able to send critical remittance payments to families in their home countries.

First National Bank of Botswana (FNBB) continues to perform strongly and, after reporting a 16% year-on-year increase in market capitalization, wins the award for Botswana’s best bank again this year.

Kenya’s Equity Bank stands out as a modern financial institution, a domestic champion and a regional player. As a result, it receives this year’s award for Africa’s best bank.

The Covid-19 crisis will accelerate monetization in the Gulf and see Abu Dhabi companies take equity stakes in the emirate.

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.

The six exchange-rate system is now untenable, with the currency losing more than 50% of its value since October, but analysts say floating the currency will cause more pain without IMF support.

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.

Profit pressure is a threat to every bank, says Qatar Islamic Bank’s group CEO Bassel Gamal, discussing how Qatar’s robust and well-capitalized banking sector is navigating the twin shocks of lower oil prices and coronavirus.

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.

Dubai raises funding amid perfect storm of Covid-19, economic slowdown and falling oil prices.

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

The IFC’s Africa and Middle East head, Sérgio Pimenta, tells Euromoney that a fast response and private-sector support are essential in the battle against Covid-19.

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.