The four main fintech hubs in Africa are Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa. These markets have distinguished themselves from the rest of Africa through their support for innovation (for example, via regulatory sandboxes) and the widespread estab...

Our recent survey of 150+ fintechs across 20 African markets enabled us to find their product and customer niches, as well as identify their unique success factors.Fintech companies are increasingly competing with traditional financial services...

The yield curve finally normalised in March 2020, to a slope of 1.2%, breaking the 3-year long inverted curve pattern which started in December 2016, right after the start of the floating exchange rate regime in November 2016. Historically, the yield...

The problem: USD strength is a headwind for EM equities investors. Heightened investor risk aversion and tighter liquidity have driven a sharp appreciation in the US dollar in the past couple of weeks. This is putting pressure on emerging market curr...

The US Federal Reserve yesterday cut interest rates by 100bps, in addition to the 50bps cut announced on 3 March, and also announced a massive asset purchase programme and international co-ordination to protect USD-liquidity in the financial system....

FX risk might re-enter the investment debate later this yearBrazilian real is down 10% ytd; Egyptian pound is up 2%. Over 12 months, BRL down 15%, EGP up 12%.Policy easing has led to near-zero real interest rate and is a key driver of Brazil dev...