The profitability of emerging markets fintechs

The ‘growth at any cost’ approach that some fintechs have taken is now likely a thing of the past, as access to funding becomes tougher. Our survey also points to the importance of scale; larger fintechs tend to be more profitable than their smaller ...

Brazil fintech: Growth opportunities, targeted KPIs and the value proposition

Considering how fintechs run their own operations, our detailed survey of 215 firms provides some interesting insights. Brazilian fintechs are focused on growing their user base and transaction value, and on product/ service innovation. As for the cu...

Africa telecoms: This year's highlights and the trends to watch in 2022

Data centres: More data centre investment and capacity expansion, as the supply gap remains wide and African countries introduce data residency regulations. MTN and Airtel obtained approval in principle for payment service bank licences in Nigeria. T...

Hurricane Laura impact mirrors Katrina: Food prices could rally alongside oil

Last night, the Gulf of Mexico was ravaged by Hurricane Laura, classed as Category 4 in the scale of disasters, which means it is capable of lethal damage. There have been mass evacuations in coastal areas of Texas and Louisiana, and 1.6mn barrels pe...

FM & Small EM Banks: Q2 results update – Egypt, Tanzania look strong; Pakistan, Bangladesh appear weak

54% of our sector coverage has now reported Q2 19 results. Median earnings growth has been 9% yoy, 2% below our expectations. HBL PA, in contrast, showed an 81% dip in profits and was 83% below our estimates due to high equity investment impairments ...

Aluminium Bahrain: Capacity-driven earnings growth on the cards

Ghana cuts GDP forecast as coronavirus headwinds intensify

Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta cut Ghana's GDP growth forecast for 2020 by 530bps to 1.5%, the lowest in 37 years, due to the collapse in oil prices and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. So far, 5 of the 16 regions in the country have confirme...

Multilateral agencies support Bangladesh with US$1.7bn pandemic loan

The economic impact of Covid-19 is weighing on the Bangladesh government, with the country having had a 66-day long ‘general holiday’ ie lockdown. This credit will help the government meet its budgetary expenses. The Bangladesh government has also se...

The global cryptocurrency boom: Trends by region

In our previous report, we looked at the high appetite of individuals in emerging markets for cryptocurrency. Remittances are one of the key reasons for cryptocurrency adoption in some markets (eg Venezuela). Africa is the smallest region, with a mer...