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Since 1953, when oil was first discovered near Port-Gentil, Gabon’s economy has been dominated by the petroleum industry. According to the BP “Statistical Review of World Energy 2012”, Gabon is the sixth-largest crude oil producer in sub-Saharan Africa and has the region’s fourth-largest proven reserves.

The defining trait of Gabon’s political climate for the past 40 years has been that of stability. While the first decade of independence saw a modicum of unrest and a coup, the country has in general seen little of the turbulence that has plagued other countries in the region.

Straddling the equator along Central Africa’s western coast, Gabon is a former French colony of 1.5m people with a territory covered up to 85% by equatorial rainforest. Following the colonial period (1886-1960), the country’s first president, Léon Mba, ruled Gabon until his death in 1967. He was followed into office by Omar Bongo Ondimba, who...

As financial services firms regain ground after a tumultuous 2011, conditions are ripe for sharia-compliant banking, investment funds, insurance ( takaful) and bonds and equity instruments ( sukuk) to put Egypt on the global Islamic financial services (IFS) map. The concerns about conventional banking, resulting from the global...

The nation’s banks weathered a perfect storm of economic and political crises in the 2008-11 period. With a new government now established, supporting GDP growth and a rising rate of consumer spending, so long as the country remains stable the sector is well-positioned for profitability. What follows is a look at the top-five players in the sector...

The increasing use of ICT by banks has brought greater efficiencies and heightened access to the market. All of Egypt’s major players have invested in online banking functionality, and firm resolutions to expand upon this technological base to offer customers new and more convenient ways to bank has become a staple of annual reports across the...