By ramping up their lending to female entrepreneurs, banks in Tunisia could dramatically increase their profits while also driving economic growth across the country, says a new report from IFC, a member of the World Bank Group.

The report found that women, who own about one-fifth of Tunisia's businesses, represent a vast untapped market for lenders. Despite that fact, many women now struggle to get financing for their firms.

In"...

While the cities of West Africa grapple with large migratory flows, consisting chiefly of young people, they must tackle the many challenges associated with this rapid urbanization and concentrate on building competitive economies and providing adequate urban services, says the World Bank’s fifth edition of the Economic Update for Guinea, Mali and Niger.

Focusing in particular on the three capitals, Bamako, Niamey and Conakry, the report,"...

The exchange rate of the Sudanese Pound against the US Dollar has risen to SDG 40.5 instead of SDG 38.5 during Eid El Fitr, which foreign exchange traders attributed to the rise of the exchange rate and the recently replaced 50 Pound note.

The exchange rate has increased during the holiday following Ramadan, stretching the pocket of consumers in Sudan. Sudanese economist Dr. Sidgi Kabello said in an interview with Radio Dabanga that a reduction"...

Zimbabwe’s point-of-sale (POS) machine population increased by 18,3 percent in the first quarter of the year to 70 960.

For the same period, there was also a marginal increase in the country’s number of automated teller machines (ATMs), in line with the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s drive to boost the use of electronic payment methods.

“POS population"...

(AETOS Wire) -- As part of its transformation strategy, Deutsche Bank has selected SmartStream Technologies’ Centre of Excellence (CoE) to provide an off-site operations platform - including three services which will allow the bank to streamline, simplify and reduce the costs of its reconciliations environment. With the growth in volume of reconciliations, the processing of large quantities of data has become complex. Many financial institutions are exploring utilities to ensure accuracy and cost savings. With the addition of the CoE to Deutsche Bank, SmartStream will provide the bank with three distinct managed services: Reconciliations On-Boarding, Production Support and Operational Reconciliation Services. The new services will improve processing of reconciliations by making it faster and more cost-effective. The integration of the overall service will be done in a phased approach, where Deutsche Bank will increase productivity and reduce costs through mutualisation. SmartStream’s Transaction Lifecycle Management (TLM®) Reconciliations Premium solution......

First National Bank (FNB) has been voted as the coolest banking brand for the 7th consecutive year in the Sunday Times Generation Next 2018 survey.

Conducted by HDI Youth Marketers, the Sunday Times Generation Next survey recognises South Africa's most-loved brands, products and celebrities in 72 categories voted for by over 5,500 youth aged eight to 23.

“Being voted the coolest banking brand by South Africa’s youth"...

Sudan’s Central Bank Governor of, Hazem Abdelqader, has died of a heart attack while on a visit to Turkey, the Sudanese presidency said on Saturday.

Born in 1960, Abdelqader served in various departments at the central bank before he was appointed governor in 2016.

Sudan’s overall economy has been hit hard, particularly after the south separated from the north"...

The General Council for Islamic Banks and Financial Institutions (CIBAFI) and the Union of Arab Banks (UAB) are jointly organizing a Forum titled (UN Development Goals and Islamic Finance: A Focus on Africa).

This forum will be held in Khartoum, Sudan during September 25th-26th 2018, under the patronage of Hazim Abdegadir Ahmed Babiker, Governor of the Central Bank of Sudan.

Following"...

The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) is set to launch its first commemorative banknote series, in celebration of the first democratically elected president Nelson Mandela’s birth centenary.

These notes will cover all denominations – R10, R20, R50, R100 and R200. As part of the celebrations, the South African Mint, a subsidiary of the SARB, will also be issuing a new commemorative circulation R5 coin.

As"...

In an effort to boost agri-business and enhance food security in Africa, the African Development Bank Board has approved a US$15 million equity investment in Africa Food Security Fund (AFSF), to support enterprises in agri-business SMEs and enhance food security in Africa.

AFSF is a second-generation fund targeting a total capitalization of US$ 100 million. The Fund will invest in potential high-growth Small and Medium Enterprises operating in the"...