Features

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Raised in the same industrial town as actor Charlize Theron, Investec Chief Executive Officer Stephen Koseff still retains the edge he picked up as a bloke from Benoni on the east of Johannesburg. Now, after 40 years of jostling with South Africa’s biggest banks and money managers to build Investec into a business managing more than 154 billion pounds ($215 billion) in assets, Koseff and Investec’s two other founding members are making way for new…

The impact of Blockchain, Open Banking, Mobile Money and Payment innovations are radically transforming the financial services landscape as FinTech disruptors intensify the challenge to incumbent banks and kickstart new opportunities in Kenya Nairobi, Kenya: Africa’s financial sector is in the midst of an exciting and profound transformation. The rapid growth of FinTech on the continent is driving the disruption and, in many cases, leapfrogging of legacy systems as innovators accelerate the digital transformation of…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Mining executives, investors and government ministers are meeting in drought-hit Cape Town for the African Mining Indaba, the continent’s largest gathering of one of its most vital industries. Recent multiyear highs for many commodities have the world’s biggest miners swimming in cash and new demand from electric vehicles mean once-overlooked metals like lithium and cobalt are grabbing the spotlight. But it’s not all blue skies, as the industry grapples…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Time appears to be running out for South African President Jacob Zuma. Six weeks after his deputy, Cyril Ramaphosa, replaced him as leader of the ruling African National Congress, the party’s top brass is due to meet in Cape Town on Wednesday to decide whether to force him from office. The crunch meeting of the National Executive Committee comes a day before Zuma was due to deliver the annual state-of-the-nation…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Investec Plc Chief Executive Officer Stephen Koseff and Managing Director Bernard Kantor will step down in October after 40 years of building a small leasing company in Johannesburg to one managing more than 154 billion pounds ($215 billion) in assets. Glynn Burger, group risk and finance director and also one of the “founding members” of Investec, will retire at the end of March next year, the Johannesburg- and London-based specialist bank and asset…

CAIRO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Egypt’s Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has a last-minute challenger in March’s presidential race — a staunch backer. Al-Ghad party chairman Mousa Moustafa Mousa, who founded a group that endorsed El-Sisi’s re-election bid, filed candidacy papers with the electoral commission just minutes before the 2 p.m. deadline on Monday, state-run Middle East News Agency reported. Mousa entered the race after others either withdrew or were disqualified. But his challenge won’t allay critics who say…