Finance & Services

The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is one of the world’s most important financial centres. It also plays a crucial role in helping African companies raise finance. Ibukun Adebayo, head, primary markets – South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, talks to Alexa Dalby on the LSE’s connections with Africa a…

Can Kenya’s runaway success in mobile banking be replicated all over Africa? The need to bank the unbanked is as acute in the rest of the continent as it is in Kenya but is the banking environment suitable for extended mobile banking, for example, in South Africa?

While mobile banking is now part of the business landscape in many African countries, few people outside the industry are aware of the invisible underlying technology, the platform or interface that turns a mobile phone into a mobile wallet or even a virtual bank branch. To find out more, we went be…

The East African Community, comprising Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi (and soon to be joined by South Sudan), is emerging as one of the most dynamic growth poles in Sub-Saharan Africa. The pace of investment and trade expansion has accelerated over the past three years as the wider mark…

The latest Rwandan Central Bank financial sector report shows that the country’s commercial banks accrued an impressive consolidated net profit in the first quarter of 2011. The availability of private sector credit also increased by a healthy 10% in the same quarter. Overall, the sector is currentl…

Kenya, which has the largest and most developed economic infrastructure in East Africa, also has the subregion’s widest spread of banking and finance institutions. Kenya has 43 commercial banks, one mortgage finance company, six deposit-taking microfinance institutions, three representative offices …

In Africa, all manner of financial transactions can be made through the humble mobile phone – it allows Kenyans to run the whole gamut of activities ranging from the payment of share dividends and utility bills to the purchase of air tickets for global carriers Kenya Airways, British Airways a…

While foreign tourists dream of visiting several Indian Ocean islands, the costs are often prohibitive. Now, a new concept will allow visitors to enjoy the attractions of many of the islands on a single trip and at reasonable cost. Tourism is one of the main economic pillars of two of Africa’s most …

On every working day, the banking halls are full and bustling with activity. The queues at the managers’ offices are also long. To secure an appointment with most bank managers requires patience. Not because of bureaucracy but because of the demand. “In the next 20 years, South Sudan will be a boomi…

Ethiopia is a paradise for a tourist who loves history or dramatic landscapes: it has some of the best of both in the world. The nurturing Rift Valley is one of the cradles from which early humans spread from Africa into the rest of the world. Ethiopia is one of the world’s oldest countries. Its [&h…