Frontiers in Finance - June 2010

The eyes of millions of sports fans around the world turn to South Africa this month, as the 2010 FIFA World Cup kicks off. Beyond its sporting content, the South African government hopes the tournament will generate substantial economic spin-off, and has invested heavily in transport and infrastructure improvements across the country. It is appropriate, therefore, that this issue of frontiers in finance has a special focus on Africa. In many ways, Africa is a forgotten continent for financial services: we focus much of our attention on Europe, the Americas and the Middle and Far East. Yet Africa is home to a billion people, has a collective GDP of some US$3 trillion, and is increasingly a target of major inward investment, most notably from China.