Africa’s estimated $100 billion credit shortfall for small and medium enterprises is forcing banks, telecom operators, and fintech startups into deeper and unexpected partnerships. The Africa-wide figure comes from a detailed assessment by the African Development Bank (AfDB), which identifies SME financing constraints as one of the continent’s most persistent economic obstacles and warns that […]
The economic momentum generated by the White House meeting between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and US President Donald Trump on Tuesday shifted swiftly to the US-Saudi Investment Forum at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. It was here on Wednesday that high-level government agreements announced in the Oval Office and at a White […]
Schneider Electric said on Wednesday it had signed new deals worth almost $2.3 billion with two U.S. data centre operators, as surging adoption of artificial intelligence boosts infrastructure demand. At an industry event in Las Vegas, the French industrial group announced a $1.9 billion partnership with privately held tech firm Switch, covering power modules and […]
Kelleher and Bessent held talks in recent months about what a move to the US would look like for the lender, with the Trump administration receptive to welcoming one of Switzerland’s most prized assets, according to three people familiar with the conversation. The talks with Bessent are part of an ongoing effort by Kelleher to […]
VFD Group successfully redeemed its N12.83 Billion Series 5 Commercial Paper on its maturity date, reinforcing strong liquidity and disciplined balance sheet management. The redemption strengthens investor confidence amid market volatility and supports the ongoing N50 Billion Rights Issue scheduled to close on November 24, 2025. Since launching its CP Programme in 2022, VFD has […]
Oil prices are set to further drop into next year from current levels amid a large surplus on the market, with the U.S. benchmark WTI Crude expected to average $53 per barrel in 2026, according to Goldman Sachs. Early on Tuesday, WTI Crude was trading just above $60 per barrel, at $60.09, up by 0.22% on the […]
Nigeria’s second largest bank by asset base and market capitalization, Zenith Bank is seeking to acquire Kenya’s Paramount Bank and has sought regulatory approval to proceed with the transaction Zenith would join other Nigerian banks that have expanded in Kenya, such as Access Bank, which acquired the National Bank of Kenya from the KCB Group […]
While optimistic economists argue that America can grow its way out of a debt crisis, pessimists believe the real outcome will be somewhat less popular. Business leaders, policymakers, and investors are growing increasingly concerned by the United States’s borrowing burden, currently sitting at $38.15 trillion. The worry isn’t necessarily the size of this debt, but […]
Companies have pledged to invest 9.2 billion euro ($10.7 billion) in France, the finance ministry said on Monday, as the government seeks to show the euro zone’s second-biggest economy remains a top business destination despite political turmoil. French firms in sectors from energy to health and agri-food made the commitments ahead of a government-organised “Choose […]
U.S.-based cloud services provider GMI Cloud said on Monday it will build a $500 million artificial intelligence data centre in Taiwan with the support of U.S. chipmaker. The data centre will come online by March 2026 and will run on Nvidia’s new Blackwell GB300 chips. The facility will house about 7,000 GPUs across 96 high-density […]