David Whitehouse

The use of “vintage” carbon credits which may be years old as a way to offset current carbon emissions shows its time for corporate citizens to get real on helping to create a net zero world, experts say.

Africa Fintech

Francophone Africa offers best value for venture-capital investors

March 9, 2022

Francophone Africa, as well as countries such as Mozambique and Angola, remain largely overlooked. Anglophone investors find it hard to establish contacts

Africa Blockchain

Kenya turns to Blockchain to improve farmer incomes, food supply chains

February 28, 2022

Wider adoption of Blockchain technology in Kenya will support long-term crypto performance

Blockchain Digital Assets News

Russian money laundering threatens Ukraine, props up London property

February 2, 2022

Former KGB officer Alexander Lebedev, whose son owns The Independent and The Evening Standard in the UK, has advanced the claim that money laundering has economic benefits.

Africa Sustainability ESG

DRC responsible cobalt initiative needs breakthrough on mine access

January 18, 2022

Trying to avoid buying DRC cobalt makes little sense in purely financial terms. The DRC’s predominant role in global supply means that buyers will need to pay a premium to avoid it entirely. There is no green world without DRC cobalt

Africa Sustainability ESG

Rwanda aims to become the Luxembourg of Africa for green finance

December 3, 2021

Africa urgently needs a new international finance centre, according to a survey of African decision-makers by Rwanda Finance, the agency mandated to develop the KIFC, and Africa Legal

Blockchain Digital Assets South America

Brazilians see crypto as tool to diversify risks of local stocks, cash

November 24, 2021

Brazilians were the biggest supporters of crypto-recognition, with 56% supporting El Salvador’s move, and 48% saying they want Brazil to follow suit and adopt Bitcoin. Only 4% of Brazilians said that there is no future for crypto currencies in their country.

Digital Assets

Kazakhstan needs more energy, regulatory change for Bitcoin mining growth

October 29, 2021

China’s crackdown has intensified since Beijing announced plans to introduce its own cryptocurrency. The digital yuan, expected to be launched in 2022, will be fully backed by the central bank. In a bid to stamp out crypto competition, initial coin offers and crypto exchanges have been banned, and restrictions on power usage by miners imposed.

Africa Banking

South Africa’s challenger banks can make rapid payments inroads

October 1, 2021

For the challenger banks, winning customers from entrenched incumbents will not be easy. New entrants such as Bank Zero and Discovery Bank have been targeting millennials with mobile banking offers but to date have failed to really take off, Mokgabudi says.

Asia

Taliban takeover means Afghanistan risks becoming cradle for global terrorism

September 16, 2021

Lack of technocratic expertise, with most educated people having fled, will make it hard to ensure the economy runs well enough to allow the Taliban to cement support in the regions. Billions of dollars of funding have been lost from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the US, and the European Union, and the central bank reserves held in the US have been frozen.

Africa Banking

Nigeria: Open banking will trigger survival of the fittest

September 1, 2021

There are 73m active bank users, creating a huge amount of customer data which remains underexploited. Nigeria’s national target is for 95% of the adult population to have access to formal or informal financial services by 2024.

Sustainability ESG

Russian Northern Sea Route opening raises dangers of Arctic environment disaster

July 22, 2021

In May 2020 one of Russia’s worst ecological disasters occurred when a fuel tank owned by a subsidiary of Norilsk Nickel ruptured, dumping more than 20,000 tons of diesel oil into the Ambarnaya river in the Russian Arctic.

Digital Assets Fintech

El Salvador’s bitcoin adoption raises spectre of totalitarianism

July 15, 2021

Bitcoin is highly volatile, and can move sharply in value in response to a short tweet from an influential user. Hanke calls it a “highly speculative asset with a fundamental value of zero.” The bitcoin community, he adds, behaves like a “religious movement” which might hold the price up in the short term.

Africa Sustainability ESG

Responsible gold sourcing and the long road from DRC to Dubai

July 1, 2021

Attempts by the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) to get to grips with responsible gold sourcing will founder unless it can get to grips with east African supply chains used to move conflict gold in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to Dubai.

Africa Banking Sustainability ESG

Ghana’s sustainable bonds will help government finances more than environment

June 15, 2021

Despite the unpromising medium-term outlook, Ghana should be able to raise the money provided it can meet the conditions set by Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investors, Bohlund says.

Banking

Islamic finance needs to do more to stand out from the crowd

May 18, 2021

The widespread Muslim dissatisfaction with conventional finance means that the potential for growth is real. #IslamicFinance #ShariahCompliant #IslamicFintech #IslamicRenaissance

David Whitehouse

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