Browsing: Banking in Africa

• South African Banks topped the list of the world’s top 500 most valuable banking brands in Africa according to Brand Finance Banking 2023 report.  
• South Africa scooped the first top five spots in Africa headlined by First National Bank ranking at number 155 worldwide albeit a drop from 146 the previous year. 
• Kenya’s Equity bank came in 6th position followed by National Bank of Egypt in 7th position while Nigeria’s Access Bank and Zenith Bank followed at 8th and 9th position respectively as Egypt’s Banque Misr closed the regional to ten list. 

South African Banks topped the list of the world’s top 500 most valuable banking brands in Africa according to Brand Finance Banking 2023 report. 

The report shows South Africa scooped the first top five spots in Africa headlined by First National Bank ranking at number 155 worldwide albeit a drop from 146 the previous year. 

Other banks who …

The continent as always, has great promise. This was the unanimous conclusion from the just-ended World Economic Forum, which is traditionally held at the Swiss resort town of Davos every year. However, significant obstacles stand in the way of the continent reclaiming its mantle of economic growth.

• The World Economic Forum held in Davos every has just ended. This year’s conference ran under the theme of Collaboration in a fragmented world.
• Africa was on the agenda of the World Economic Forum as is frequently the case.
• Discussions on Africa at the conference mainly centred on how the continent can regain its growth trajectory.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) identified four principal factors causing economic headwinds in Africa and will stall its economic growth as a continent unless dealt with. The so called “stallers” of Africa’s economic growth are and will remain as conflict, COVID, climate, and cost of living.

WEF …

Global finance named Ecobank as the most innovative bank in Africa during the eighth Global Finance annual awards, the Innovators 2020.

The awards honour banks and financial institutions that identify new paths and design tools in finance.

The classes of award comprised of Most Innovative Banks in Africa, Central & Eastern Europe,  Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Middle East, North America and Western Europe.

At the virtual awards announcements, the European Editor at Global Finance and Lead, Global Finance Awards evaluation team, Anita Hawser noted that the companies that were recognized at the innovate awards stood apart and that the innovations looked in the context of product or process innovation. She said that the review panel was ultimately concerned with the effect of innovation in terms of addressing a specific need or creating value for customers such as speeding up credit review or lending process for small businesses, enabling companies to remotely …

Gareth Grobler is a digital currency entrepreneur and founded the cryptocurrency exchange iCE3X in 2013. He is a founding member of the UK Digital Currency Association. Gareth has over 15 years of experience in IT infrastructure & architecture development. He started iCE3X as a proof of concept and has been involved with other ventures including Merkeleon, a software company that builds exchange and processing software based out of Austria, with offices in Minsk and London. In this Q&A, Grobler provides clarity on developments in the industry within Africa and shares his views on cryptocurrency adoption on the continent. Edited excerpts follow:

What are the biggest obstacles for the mainstream adoption of crypto?

As humans, we are attracted to “easy”. Crypto is not easy because being your own bank requires responsibility and it is not something that is automatically within everyone’s skillset instinctively. As things progress and become more mainstream this …