The political and economic landscape throughout the world is
contributing to a theme of uncertainty. However, with uncertainty comes
opportunity and many are seeing Africa as a good investment opportunity
in relative terms.
Traditionally, Africa has drawn
investment from sectors leveraging its abundant natural resources,
developing infrastructure and transport networks and increasing regional
integration and intra-region trade. More recently, Standard Bank has
witnessed growth in both the consumer and technology sectors driven by
increasing urbanisation and changes in population demographics.
A
key differentiator for Standard Bank, is our ability to connect Africa
to the world and play the role of a catalyst in driving growth. Our
presence in key international financial centres connects international
clients from North America, Brazil, Europe, the Middle East and Asia to
our extensive and competitive footprint in Africa. In addition, we
provide a platform that connects African clients to resources that are
competitive and reliable from key financial markets.
The
annual Africa Investors Conference (AIC), hosted by Standard Bank and
ICBC Standard in London last week, provides a unique opportunity for our
African clients to engage with the European investor base. This year
policymakers, investors and corporates shared insights in more than 1000
meetings on the key global trends driving changes in African markets,
on challenges they face and how to address them.
At
Standard Bank we believe that, as Africa’s largest bank by assets, we
have a responsibility to our African clients and policyholders to play
an instrumental role in providing access to capital and liquidity
available from the world’s leading financial centres. The AIC has once
again demonstrated our ability to do this by bringing together an
important group of people, and the institutions they represent, that
will be instrumental in driving the continued growth of the continent we
call home.
Gert Vogel
Standard Bank
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