West African Economic and Monetary Union

West African Economic and Monetary Union
Author: Patrick A. Imam
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 46
Release: 2013-10-22
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1484348222

The financial system in the WAEMU remains largely bank-based. The banking sector comprises 106 banks and 13 financial institutions, which together hold more than 90 percent of the financial system’s assets (about 54 percent of GDP at end-2011). Five banks account for 50 percent of banking assets. The ownership structure of the sector is changing fast, with the rapid rise of foreign-owned (pan-African) banks. This contributes to higher competition but also rising heterogeneity in the banking system, with large and profitable cross-country groups competing with often weaker country-based (and sometime government-owned) banks. Nonbank financial institutions are developing quickly, notably insurance companies, but remain overall small. This paper presents a detailed analysis of the banking system.

South Africa

South Africa
Author: International Monetary Fund
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 133
Release: 1997-10-03
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1451840934

This Selected Issues paper highlights that aided by the easing of political uncertainties after the national elections in early 1994 and by the cautious stance of policies adopted by the new administration, economic performance and investor sentiment in South Africa strengthened markedly. Nonagricultural value-added grew by 4 percent in 1995, led by a sharp increase in real gross private fixed investment. In contrast, developments in 1996 were characterized by a shift in investor sentiment and unrest in the foreign exchange markets.

Banking in Africa: Delivering on Financial Inclusion, Supporting Financial Stability

Banking in Africa: Delivering on Financial Inclusion, Supporting Financial Stability
Author: European Investment Bank
Publisher: European Investment Bank
Total Pages: 277
Release: 2018-11-21
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9286138482

In its fourth edition, this report focuses on recent developments in Africa's banking sectors and the policy options for all stakeholders. The study of banking sectors across all African sub-regions includes the results of the EIB survey of banking groups operating in Africa. Three thematic chapters address challenges and opportunities for financing investment in Africa: Crowding out of private sector lending by public debt issuance The state of bank recovery and resolution laws in Africa Policy options on how to finance infrastructure development. The report finds that in many African banking markets, the last two years saw a pause in financial deepening. However, a rising share of banking groups report improving market conditions and plan a structural expansion of their operations in Africa and a continued push for new technologies.

South Africa: Financial Sector Assessment Program-Financial System Stability Assessment

South Africa: Financial Sector Assessment Program-Financial System Stability Assessment
Author: International Monetary
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 64
Release: 2022-02-11
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN:

The economy recovered strongly in 2021, following an unprecedented real output contraction in 2020. However, the outlook remains precarious amidst projected future low growth, high unemployment and adverse debt dynamics, and the recovery pace is unlikely to be sustained. Ample buffers allowed the financial system to handle the COVID-19 shock relatively well, but domestic and external downside risks remain substantial—with potential implications for asset quality, profitability, and solvency.

The Global Findex Database 2017

The Global Findex Database 2017
Author: Asli Demirguc-Kunt
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2018-04-19
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1464812683

In 2011 the World Bank—with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation—launched the Global Findex database, the world's most comprehensive data set on how adults save, borrow, make payments, and manage risk. Drawing on survey data collected in collaboration with Gallup, Inc., the Global Findex database covers more than 140 economies around the world. The initial survey round was followed by a second one in 2014 and by a third in 2017. Compiled using nationally representative surveys of more than 150,000 adults age 15 and above in over 140 economies, The Global Findex Database 2017: Measuring Financial Inclusion and the Fintech Revolution includes updated indicators on access to and use of formal and informal financial services. It has additional data on the use of financial technology (or fintech), including the use of mobile phones and the Internet to conduct financial transactions. The data reveal opportunities to expand access to financial services among people who do not have an account—the unbanked—as well as to promote greater use of digital financial services among those who do have an account. The Global Findex database has become a mainstay of global efforts to promote financial inclusion. In addition to being widely cited by scholars and development practitioners, Global Findex data are used to track progress toward the World Bank goal of Universal Financial Access by 2020 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The database, the full text of the report, and the underlying country-level data for all figures—along with the questionnaire, the survey methodology, and other relevant materials—are available at www.worldbank.org/globalfindex.

Inside the South African Reserve Bank

Inside the South African Reserve Bank
Author: Stephen Mitford Goodson
Publisher: Black House Publishing
Total Pages: 158
Release: 2014-10
Genre: Banks and banking
ISBN: 9780992736583

Stephen Mitford Goodson's Inside the South African Reserve Bank Its Origins and Secrets Exposed sweeps aside the usual dust of economic theory to provide a thoroughly engaging account on the origins and purposes of the Republic's central banking institution. Goodson does so as an "outsider" on the "inside," a proponent of banking reform who became a non-executive director of the SA Reserve Bank. What Goodson found was ineptitude, corruption, careerism, ignorance and scandal. When Goodson became too troublesome for the status quo, he was removed, smeared, and attempts were made to legally silence him. Here Goodson not only gives an account of his time within the SA Reserve Bank, but places the bank within its historical context, having been established as part of a world-wide agenda orchestrated by Montagu Norman, governor of the Bank of England, to create "central banks" throughout the world as part of a global financial system controlled by international financiers. Those who figured prominently in imposing this fraudulent financial system on South Africa were Jan Smuts, and his friend and adviser Henry Strakosch, whose closeness to Winston Churchill is also shown to be of world historical significance. The only voices raised in opposition to this deceptively-named "central banking" were from the Labour Party. Those voices have long gone from anything still calling itself "Labour," in South Africa as elsewhere. However, there were alternatives, such as the use of state banking in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Japan and Italy, and the enduring example of North Dakota. Goodson examines each of these. Moreover, he provides a series of appendices on draft legislation for exactly how a sound banking system could be implemented, creating for the first time genuine sovereignty, prosperity and justice.

South Africa: Financial Sector Assessment Program-Technical Note on Cybersecurity Risk Supervision and Oversight

South Africa: Financial Sector Assessment Program-Technical Note on Cybersecurity Risk Supervision and Oversight
Author: International Monetary
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 32
Release: 2022-06-17
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN:

Cybersecurity risk continues to grow both in complexity and severity and is a function of an increasingly open and interconnected cyber and financial ecosystem. The South African financial system has a long history of incorporating technology and as for many financial systems across the globe, digitalization has become a strategic priority. For risk management to keep pace with the dynamic nature of cyber threats and threat agents, systemically important financial institutions (SIFIs) have made substantial investments in cyber resilience programs (e.g., establishing cyber strategies, frameworks, and governance structures). Consistent with many jurisdictions, and partly a result of widespread remote working arrangements implemented in response to the global pandemic, cybersecurity threats to financial stability increased. However, high standards of risk management meant threats did not materialize into significant losses and/or disruptions.