Friday, November 22African Digital Business Magazine

Tag: bank

African News, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia News, Kenya News, Rwanda News

Kagame opens African Economic Conference, calls for models that respond to local needs

  ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, October 31, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ – Rwandese leader, President Paul Kagame today in Kigali opened the 7th African Economic Conference, calling it an opportunity for leading African economists to look beyond purely economic factors for solutions to Africa’s developmental problems. Convened by the Economic Commission for Africa, (ECA), the African Development Bank, (AFDB) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the three-day conference is focusing on the theme Inclusive and Sustainable Development in an Age of Economic Uncertainty, according to ECA’s Information and Communication Service. He said that analysts might point to issues of governance and lack of sufficient transformational leaders but “the real problem is that our...
African News

Bunna International Bank Partners With Finacle From Infosys for Banking Transformation

  ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia and BANGALORE, India, November 1, 2012/PRNewswire-FirstCall via African Press Organization (APO)/ — New Core Banking Solution to Improve Customer Service and Operational Efficiency Bunna International Bank, a leading player in the Ethiopian market, today announced the selection of Finacle[TM] core banking solution [http://www.infosys.com/finacle ] from Infosys for its transformation journey. Finacle will enable the bank to integrate its front and back office operations and deploy a state-of-the-art loan origination system. This will include automating the credit check and loan approval processes for risk-free and efficient loan disbursals. This transformation will help Bunna improve the overall banking experience for its customers. Finacle will also comp...
African News, South Africa News

‘Sh’boom’ heralds launch of major new Standard Bank TV campaign

  Standard Bank has launched the next phase of its brand campaign “Moving Forward” including a major television commercial that captures key moments in world history, demonstrating progress and the positive emotion people feel when they move forward. The campaign, developed by the group’s advertising agency TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris, will flight in South Africa and other African markets where Standard Bank has a presence. The 60 second commercial follows a series of global events - from the first flight in the early 1900’s to the first democratic elections in South Africa. These moments capture significant social change and technology advances that have moved the world and humanity forward in a positive way. The famous tune “Sh’boom” by The Crew Cuts, which enjoyed nine weeks at Number...
African News

Officials to deliberate a business plan to implement the African Mining Vision

  ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, October 8, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ – The joint partnership of the African Union Commission, the Economic Commission for Africa and the African Development Bank has hailed today’s meeting of the Bureau of the Second Conference of AU Ministers Responsible for Mineral Resources Development as “an important milestone in implementing the Africa Mining Vision.” Convened by the Ethiopian Minister of Mines, Sinkinesh Ejigu, in her capacity as Chair of the Bureau of Ministers responsible for Mines, the 8-9 meeting aims to discuss a Business Plan aimed at establishing the African Minerals Development Centre (AMDC), according to Stephen Karingi, Director, Regional Integration and Trade Division, ECA. “We are all only too aware that despite Africa’s rich ...
African News

World Bank Launches New Fund to Help African Countries Negotiate Best-Possible Deals for their Oil, Gas, and Minerals

PARIS, October, 2012―With new discoveries of oil, gas, and other minerals generating a wave of significant mineral wealth in African countries, the World Bank today launched a new fund to help countries on the continent level the playing field and ensure equitable deals in their natural resource contracts with international companies. With Africa holding 15% of the world’s oil reserves, 40% of its gold, and about 80% of the platinum group of metals, natural resources represent important development opportunities for the continent. For example, oil production has been growing steadily in Africa, and is expected to continue to rise at an average rate of six percent per year for the foreseeable future. At the 40th Anniversary Meeting of the Zone Franc Monetary Union in Paris today, attended b...
African News

Despite Global Slowdown, African Economies Growing Strongly― New Oil, Gas, and Mineral Wealth an Opportunity for Inclusive Development

WASHINGTON, October, 2012 – Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to grow at 4.8 percent in 2012, broadly unchanged from the 4.9 percent growth rate in 2011 and largely on track despite setbacks in the global economy, according to the World Bank’s new Africa’s Pulse, a twice-yearly analysis of the issues shaping Africa’s economic prospects. Excluding South Africa, the continent’s largest economy, growth in Sub-Saharan Africa is forecast to rise to 6 percent. African exports rebounded notably in the first quarter of 2012, growing at an annual pace of 32 percent, up from the -11 percent pace recorded in the last quarter of 2011. African countries have not been immune to the recent bout of market volatility stemming from the Euro Area crisis, as well as the growth slowdown that is occurring in some ...
African News

Business in Africa is booming. But are the commercial laws strong enough to sustain long-term growth ?

  An authoritative introduction to the commercial laws being instituted in West and Central Africa through the OHADA harmonization process is published in London this week. Source: IEDP Unified Business Laws for Africa: Common Law Perspectives on OHADA is now available from IEDP. (PRWEB UK) 20 July 2012 The World Bank has just approved an International Development Association (IDA)* US$15 million technical assistance grant to strengthen OHADA's institutional capacity to support, in its member countries, selected aspects of investment climate reforms, including improved corporate financial reporting. President Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo has just signed the instruments of ratification of the OHADA treaty and OHADA will become the applicable law in DRC on Sept ...
African News, South Africa News, Zambia News

Regionalism

  by Chikomborero Dengu (chikodengu @ gmail.com) Regionalism (Microsoft Word) Introduction There is an increasing recognition for the need to improve the political and economic environment of a country or region via collective action . This recognition is borne out of the realisation that countries or indeed regions are competing with themselves for scarce resources . This essay intends to dissect the concept of new regionalism and whilst briefly looking at how it has evolved .  With reference to the last point this paper will attempt to link the concept of new regionalism to the recent surge in Regional Trade Agreements (RTA).[1] The crux of this essay however lay in establishing the reasons for increases in RTA’s , that is to say both economic and political positives of jo...
African News

Confirmation.com Uncovers $200 Million Peregrine Financial Group Fraud

  Commodity Futures Regulator Moves to Mandate Use of Service for All Regulated Brokerages BRENTWOOD, Tenn., July 23, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Within 24 hours of a regulatory mandate to use electronic confirmation service Confirmation.com, here, PFGBest, a commodity brokerage unit of Peregrine Financial Group, Inc., was exposed as a multi-year $215 million fraud. "PFGBest is a sadly common example of how easily bank and account information can be falsified to evade detection of accounting frauds," said Brian Fox, founder and chief marketing officer of Confirmation.com. "CEO Russell Wasendorf resisted using our service for months, presumably because he knew that as soon as electronic confirmation went into effect, he would be exposed. We have seen this pattern several times since lau...
African News, South Africa News

Standard Bank South Africa’s Muvo card brings cutting edge technology to bus system

  The introduction of the MasterCard Muvo card in Durban will herald the beginning of the end of carrying cash for bus fare in South Africa. Commuters using People Mover and Durban Transport buses throughout Ethekwini municipality in KwaZulu-Natal province will use the card to pay their fare. The card is powered by Standard Bank South Africa and introduced through its innovation arm Beyond Payments and transport IT specialistAlmex. The card is an anonymous debit MasterCard that is coupled with the National Department of Transport's specified ticketing solution. It is also prefunded and reloadable, and can be used as a standard EMV MasterCard, as well as in a contactless environment enabled though the MasterCard PayPass™ contactless technology. The launch follows the successful...