Features | - Part 131

What Could We Do With So Much Free Electricity?:

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Curtailment of renewables, disconnecting wind and solar when there’s too much electricity entering the grid, will be a common feature of Europe’s power system as more intermittent generation is added. That much is clear. Yet this excess electricity is probably going to create new opportunities rather than simply go to waste. Some new openings are already familiar – such as battery storage or demand response – and newer activities…

Congo Opposition Will Back Single Presidential Candidate in Vote

Posted on by The Editorial Team

KINSHASA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Opposition politicians in the Democratic Republic of Congo said they’ll back a single presidential candidate in this year’s election to maximize their chances of defeating the long-serving head of state’s chosen successor. Such an outcome would increase the prospect of opponents of President Joseph Kabila defeating his anointed replacement. The Dec. 23 vote is a one-round contest and multiple candidates would split the opposition vote. “The leaders of the opposition are…

Powell to Keep Hiking as U.S. Growth Overshadows Turkey Turmoil

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – That’s the message seasoned watchers of the Federal Reserve have for any investors hoping that turmoil in Turkey and the wider emerging-market selloff would stay the hand of Chairman Jerome Powell from raising interest rates. While international developments did cause the U.S. central bank to hold back in 2015 and 2016, there are big differences between now and then. U.S. unemployment was higher and underlying inflation was lower. But perhaps more importantly, the…

Emerging Opportunities in Africa Capital Markets and Trade Finance

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Africa trade finance has been neglected as an asset class, because the yields have been modest relative to African sovereign bond markets and because investors had been attracted to the high beta African investments, like the local currency bonds. The volatility and recent sell-off in EM hard-currency and local-currency bonds in 2018 has changed investors’ appetite significantly. EM fixed income investors are changing their preference towards low beta and…

Africa’s Insurance Market: Where is the Boom?

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – By global standards, Africa’s insurance market remains relatively underdeveloped, accounting for just under 1.2% (0.06 trillion USD) of insurance premiums written globally in 2017. Insurance penetration rates averaged 2.77% in 2016, compared to global averages of 6.28%. Penetration rates in some of the more developed markets such as Cayman Islands topped 22.60% and the UK 10.16%, while the least developed markets such as Nigeria were as low as 0.27%….

Establish Operational Resilience in Financial Institutions

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Historically, financial institutions focussed on internal business resilience management (i.e. business continuity plans and testing thereof) and this was generally enough to ensure operational resilience. However, mass protest actions, terrorism, social and/or political unrest, ailing national infrastructure, interconnectedness of financial systems, increase in denial of service attacks and increasing use of and/or reliance on third parties to support key operations are forcing financial institutions to change the way in…

Bullet-Train Pledge, Splits Cost Zimbabwe Opposition in Vote

Posted on by The Editorial Team

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) – As Zimbabwean opposition leader Nelson Chamisa considers mounting a legal challenge to last week’s election results, he’s also counting the cost of fissures within his alliance and campaign pledges that made him appear out of touch with voters. Emmerson Mnangagwa’s victory in the parliamentary and presidential ballots has left Chamisa’s Movement for Democratic Change without enough seats to prevent the ruling Zimbabwe African National Front-Patriotic Front from changing the constitution. It’s…

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