Tag: capital markets

Imagine beginning with a bold mission in 2012: to achieve financial inclusion through a multi-country bank. Within a decade, that vision became one of the fastest-growing fintechs in the world. The remarkable journey of It’s About Tyme captures this evolution.

South Africa’s financial institutions are rewriting the rules of banking technology. The cloud has become a new balance sheet of innovation. For decades, the country’s banking sector has punched above its weight. For example, it provided electronic banking long before many global peers.

Africa is home to arguably the world's youngest and fastest-growing population. A burgeoning middle class now seeks ways to build wealth and secure financial futures. Despite this enormous potential, millions of Africans still face exclusion from global investment opportunities.

Africa is urbanising rapidly. According to Africa’s Urbanisation Dynamics 2025 OECD report, our cities will house 1.4 billion people by 2050 – twice today’s number. But this growth is happening in cities that lack the financial power to shape their own futures. Most African cities struggle to raise revenue, borrow money or spend capital at scale.

Recent progress at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) has signalled renewed confidence in South Africa’s capital markets. We believe the JSE plays a critical role in growing the economy. While market conditions have presented challenges, we remain optimistic about the future. We have seen how the JSE has shown resilience through accessible listings.

The last five years have seen an improvement in the audit profession when it comes to audit failures. Is this evidence that the entire financial ecosystem finally understands the importance of taking responsibility for the audit process or is it because of the increase in legislative mandate and high scrutiny that is currently imposed on the audit profession?

We are pleased to announce that the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) has approved our amendments to the listings requirements dealing with market segmentation which come into effective on 23 September 2024.

As capital markets grapple with profound shifts in the macro-economic and geo-political landscapes, for investors, 2022 is turning into a year we’d rather forget. Following relative calm over the South African winter, volatility in bond, equity and currency markets recently returned with a vengeance.

It’s been a busy time for the US dollar. On the one hand, it has featured heavily in commentary on the future of the global monetary system. On the other hand, it has surged in foreign exchange markets. In other words, even as many commentators question the future of the dollar as global reserve currency, participants in foreign exchange markets have scrambled to buy more dollars.

A year ago, reality started sinking in that the new coronavirus from Wuhan would not be contained to China. No fewer than 25 countries had confirmed cases, and the first deaths outside China were being reported. On 11 February 2020, the disease caused by the new coronavirus was named COVID-19.