![français [French]](/jsp/jahia/engines/images/flags/fr_off.gif)
![English [English]](/jsp/jahia/engines/images/flags/en_on.gif)
Menu gauche
Contenu
Private Sector & Development is a bimonthly magazine that compares the views of experts in different fields on issues relating to the role the private sector plays in the development of low-income countries of South countries, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Each issue includes between six and eight contributions on the same topic from researchers, private sector’s professionals from South countries.
-
Editorial
By Claude Périou, Chief executive officer of PROPARCO
The African banking sector is undergoing radical change as regional and pan-African banking groups develop. Are these players contributing to sustainable development on the continent?
The African banking sector – largely dominated by the European banks through to the late 1990s – is currently undergoing radical change. Alongside the sector’s traditional players, regional operations are emerging – and steadily evolving into genuinely pan-African groups. These banks, whether they are local, regional or continental, are deploying a more aggressive growth strategy, seeking to penetrate new market segments and reach target groups previously excluded from the banking system. They are growing branch networks and introducing innovative, low-cost services better suited to underbanked populations.Access to banking services is advancing, and retail banking and finance for SMEs are on the increase. Yet while they are targeting higher-risk customers, these banks lack the capital base of the major banking groups. To maintain its growth momentum the African banking sector will need to draw on external expertise and financial resources. The trend towards consolidation which has already begun in some markets will need to continue across the whole continent – driven, in particular, by tougher regulatory standards and banking supervision.To what extent is the banking sector’s development contributing to the development of the African continent as a whole? The new players are undoubtedly adding value – yet might their quest for market share entail a systemic risk for the continent’s still-fragile economies? Will their emergence on the African scene boost efficiency in the banking sector? Issue 16 of Private Sector & Development seeks to answer these questions, in order to outline the conditions for sustainable development of Africa’s banking sector.
News
-
08/11/2012Paris, 8 November 2012. In its Fifteenth issue, Private Sector & Development investigates the issues facing the waste sector. Large cities in developing countries are facing a waste crisis. Integrated ...Read more
17/07/2012Les forêts sont de véritables puits de carbone. Si les projets forestiers dominent les marchés volontaires du carbone, ils occupent une place encore marginale sur les marchés de conformité, du fait de leur inéligibilité au système européen d'échange de ...Read more
10/07/2012Recouvrant le tiers des terres émergées du globe, avec près de la moitié de sa surface sous les tropiques, la forêt représente des enjeux importants pour les pays en développement. Elle est en effet la principale source de revenus pour 80% des personnes ...Read more
Last update in November 2012
