Financial sector braces for strong headwinds

Senior bank executives and regulators gathering in Davos this week are still grappling with the fallout of the global financial crisis, almost a decade after the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

Disrupting the financial playing field

Naguib Sawiris has always been a force to be reckoned with, in business, politics and even international relations. Charismatic and forthright, the Egyptian entrepreneur is a visible catalyst of change in the Middle East and North Africa.

Driving digital payments innovation

Alternative payment methods, like peer-to-peer providers PayPal and Square Cash, and smartphone digital wallets, are disrupting an industry which long offered just three options: cash, check, or card.

Money makes the world go round

Long-established financial institutions are working hard to support financial inclusion and to increase their funding of socially and environmentally positive projects.

M-Pesa: mobile money in Africa

In many African countries, more people now use a mobile money account than a bank account. Many of them will be customers of Vodafone’s pioneering M-Pesa service.

Cyprus: stable finance, stable growth

As the world’s policymakers continue to grapple with the consequences of the global financial crisis, the remarkable recovery of the island economy of Cyprus has become a point of reference in the debate.

Exchanging environmental commodities

Alongside the global banks, newer players in the financial sector are delivering innovative financing mechanisms for environmental investments.

Q&A: MasterCard South Africa

Mark Elliot, Division President: "Done right, mobile money can bring the banked world to the unbanked in ways that are useful in their daily lives."

Q&A: Carbon Trade Exchange

Wayne Sharpe, Executive Chairman and Founder: "We want to provide the global scale and capacity needed to address the climate change problem."

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