Bank penetration increased from 67% in 2012 to 75% in 2013, with an additional 3.5m people having access to formal banking services. The rollout of the South African Social Security Agency – adding 1.9m people – spurred much of this growth. Of the 16m South Africans who receive social grants, 93% are now registered on the new social security system, which requires a bank...
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Articles & Analysis | Bringing services to an increasing number of people from The Report: South Africa 2014
Articles & Analysis | Mobile financial services provide a new growth platform from The Report: South Africa 2014
Following the success in Kenya of Safaricom’s M-Pesa programme, a mobile money scheme that now handles roughly 10% of Kenya’s GDP on an annual basis, mobile financial services have become increasingly popular in Africa. Though the results have been mixed, the fundamentals of the mobile phone as a financial tool are sound. In South Africa, mobile penetration is in excess of 100...
With both performance and assets outstripping the continent’s other large emerging markets in Egypt, Nigeria and Morocco, South Africa’s banking sector is the biggest and most developed on the continent. The economy has been shaken by the global financial crisis: the rand has seen unusual volatility, and demand from key markets in Europe and Asia has dropped. However, the country’s banks have...
In April 2014 South Africans celebrated the 20th anniversary of both the end of apartheid and the creation of the modern Republic of South Africa. These two events highlight just how far South Africa has come in the past two decades, during which the nation’s numerous assets have contributed to its rise as one of Africa’s leading economic and diplomatic players.
Despite a challenging economic backdrop, Egypt’s banks have succeeded in growing their assets and maintaining profitability over the past year. Their solid performance has been facilitated by a process of reform that began a decade ago. The banking network comprised 3651 branches in 2013, an increase of 41 branches over the previous year, which resulted in a density of 22,900 people per...
For millennia Egypt has been one of the most strategically important places on earth, and often one of its most culturally influential. Despite significant structural issues and the political instability of the past few years, it remains a country of great regional and global importance.