The governor of Trinidad and Tobago's central bank, Jwala Rambarran, has overseen a hectic period in which the country has considerably tightened its supervision procedures, sought to clarify the role of its international finance centre and developed its capital markets. He tells Silvia Pavoni how improving financial inclusion is his next priority.
Zimbabwe’s economy is on the verge of recession, with low consumer demand and a liquidity crunch putting its businesses under plenty of strain. Against this backdrop, finance minister Patrick Chinamasa tells Paul Wallace how he has started to rebuild its ties with multilateral lenders in a bid to access new credit.
PTA Bank, one of Africa’s main development banks, was in crisis at the turn of the millennium. But it has since turned itself around and boosted its capital base, meaning that its chief executive is confident in saying that it is finally able to fulfil its role of fostering regional trade in eastern and southern Africa.
Amcon, Nigeria’s resolution vehicle set up after its 2009 financial crisis, has made a lot of progress restructuring the billions of dollars of loans it holds. But its chief executive Mustafa Chike-Obi says its work will get harder and argues against calls for it to be wound down quickly.
With elections looming, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s next year as Nigeria’s finance minster promises to be even more demanding that usual. But she is determined to ensure that the country’s strong macroeconomic performance of recent years and reform agenda do not slip.
Liberia’s economy has come a long way since its devastating civil war ended 11 years ago, but it remains one of the world’s poorest countries. Amara Konneh, who won The Banker’s African Finance Minister of the Year award for 2014, tells Paul Wallace how the Liberian government is trying to change that.
While Portugal has moved out of recession – just – its recovery seems tentative at best. Its economy minister, however, is optimistic about the country's future, and tells Silvia Pavoni that its strong exports to countries outside of the eurozone in particular point to better times ahead.
Working with the maxim that there is big profit potential in big data, the global head of IT architecture at HSBC securities services and his team have spent the past 18 months experimenting with new technologies and now, he tells Dan Barnes, the bank is ready to launch a new suite of client-driven technology solutions.
Africa’s banking industry has gone through huge changes during Jacko Maree’s career. The former chief executive of Standard Bank believes the future for banks on the continent looks promising, but says they will have to adapt to regulatory changes and tap new types of clients. Interview by Paul Wallace.