Tag Archives: Financial Services

AMA, Business

Understanding Your Credit Score and Why It Is Important

Maravi Post Reporter

WINDHOEK, Namibia, 8 May 2025 -/African Media Agency (AMA)/- TransUnion Namibia is committed to helping consumers better understand their financial options and the importance of maintaining a healthy credit score in today’s economy.

“At TransUnion Namibia, we’re committed to helping consumers understand their financial standing and the importance of maintaining a healthy credit profile. With greater awareness and access to credit education, more Namibians can be empowered to take control of their financial futures and fully participate in the economy,” says Lara Enslin, Country Manager of TransUnion Namibia.

Why Your Credit Score Matters

Your credit score is a numerical representation of your creditworthiness. It helps lenders determine whether to extend credit to you, and at what interest rate. Your credit score is calculated based on the information in your credit report.

Namibian consumers are entitled to one free credit report annually from each credit bureau. Reviewing this report helps you understand your credit history and identify any inaccuracies. If you notice errors, such as unfamiliar accounts or incorrect details, you can file a dispute with the credit bureau, such as TransUnion, to have them corrected.

Key factors that influence your credit score include:

  • Payment History: A strong indicator of reliability. Late payments negatively impact your score, so always pay at least the minimum amount due each month.
  • Credit Utilisation: This measures how much of your available credit you’re using. High utilisation can signal financial distress.
  • Length of Credit History: Older accounts help improve your score, so maintaining long-standing credit lines is beneficial.
  • Credit Mix: A variety of credit types such as credit cards, home loans, and personal loans can positively influence your score.
  • New Credit Applications: Opening several accounts in a short timeframe can raise red flags for lenders.

Building a Healthy Credit Profile

Improving your credit standing takes time and consistency. Avoiding late payments, minimising credit utilisation, and limiting new credit applications all contribute to a healthier profile. Responsible use of credit, such as managing small, well-maintained accounts and paying on time, can help you build a solid credit history.

“We are actively driving financial inclusion in Namibia through several initiatives,” says Enslin. “One of our key focus areas is supporting micro-finance institutions and products, which help bring affordable financial services to underserved communities. These services often serve as an entry point to credit, allowing individuals to build their credit profiles over time. We’re also working with regulators and policymakers to enhance infrastructure and enable seamless, digital onboarding for consumers.”

Through data and predictive insights, TransUnion aims to expand access to credit and improve financial health for Namibians, supporting inclusive economic growth and long-term stability.

How to Access Your Free Credit Report
To request your annual free credit report, email a copy of your ID to
mailto:SA_Namibia-FreeReport@transunion.com. You will receive a form to complete before the report can be processed.

Alternatively, you can request your credit report in person at: TransUnion Namibia
27J, First Floor, Old Power Station
Southern Industrial, Windhoek
Business hours: 9:00am – 2:30pm

Distributed by African Media Agency (AMA) on behalf of TransUnion.

About TransUnion (NYSE: TRU)
TransUnion is a global information and insights company with over 13,000 associates operating in more than 30 countries, including Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, eSwatini, and Zambia. We make trust possible by ensuring each person is reliably represented in the marketplace. We do this by providing an actionable view of consumers, stewarded with care.

Through our acquisitions and technology investments we have developed innovative solutions that extend beyond our strong foundation in core credit into areas such as marketing, fraud, risk and advanced analytics. As a result, consumers and businesses can transact with confidence and achieve great things. We call this Information for Good® — and it leads to economic opportunity, great experiences and personal empowerment for millions of people around the world.

For more information visit: www.transunionafrica.com

Media Contact:
Keabetsoe Matshediso
keabetsoe.matshediso@fleishman.co.za

Source : African Media Agency (AMA)

AMA, Business

Shortlist of nominees announced for the African Banker Awards 2025

Maravi Post Reporter

The 2025 edition of the Awards will recognise and celebrate the strides being made by banks across the continent with a focus on innovation, transformation and also the promotion of inclusivity and gender equality. 58 nominees have made the shortlist for the 2025 awards, which has become a fixture on the African banking calendar.

LONDON, England 2 May, 2025 -/African Media Agency(AMA)/- African Banker magazine has announced the shortlist of nominees for this year’s edition of its annual African Banker Awards.

The winners will be made known during the official gala ceremony scheduled for May 28th in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, as part of the official programme of the Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank.

The 2025 edition of the African Banker Awards is organised by African Banker magazine and IC Events under the patronage of the African Development Bank. The ceremony’s platinum sponsor remains the African Guarantee Fund, a fund created to share risks with commercial banks to encourage them to lend to the SME sector while ATIDI, which provides facilities to ensure against country risks and other associated insurance services, comes in as exclusive cocktail sponsor.

The African Banker Awards has, since its inception in 2007, sought to recognise and celebrate the exceptional individuals and organisations driving Africa’s rapidly transforming financial services sector.

The shortlist of nominees for the African Banker Awards 2025 was selected from over 200 entries submitted in nine categories by banks spread across the African continent. This year, two female bank executives have emerged as nominees for the prestigious “Banker of the Year” award, underlining the leading role women continue to play in shaping Africa’s banking and finance landscape.

Speaking on the awards, Omar Ben Yedder, Chair of the Awards committee commented on the increasing focus on SME, sustainable banking practices and the role of fintechs in the ecosystem. “Banks have performed strongly last year despite headwinds and currency devaluations in major countries. We also received entries in the deals category that shows that there are numerous transformative transactions taking place. And yet, the message remains. Interestingly, SMEs proved to be a profitable asset class and one that banks are paying greater attention to. The advent of AI and other technological advancements are at the centre of bank strategies too. The continent needs even bigger banks to support our growth agenda.”

The nominees for the African Banker Awards 2025 are as follows:

Bank of the Year

  • Commercial International Bank Egypt (CIB)
  • Ecobank
  • First Bank of Nigeria Limited
  • Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB Group Plc.)
  • Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB Ltd.)
  • Trade and Development Bank Group (TDB Group)
  • Coris Bank International

Banker of the Year

  • Abdulmajid Mussa Nsekela – CRDB Bank Plc.
  • Jeremy Awori – Ecobank
  • Karim Awad – EFG Holding
  • Léon Konan Koffi – AFG Holding
  • Mukwandi Chibesakunda – Zanaco Inc.
  • Patricia Ojangole – Uganda Development Bank
  • Sidi Ould Tah – The Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA)

Sustainable Bank of the Year

  • Commercial International Bank Egypt (CIB)
  • CRDB Bank Plc.
  • Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB Group Plc.)
  • Nedbank
  • Trade and Development Bank Group (TDB Group)

Fintech of the Year

  • 4G Capital
  • Inclusivity Solutions
  • Network International
  • Oze
  • ProfitShare Partners
  • Valu

DFI of the year

  • African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank)
  • African Trade Insurance Agency
  • Bank of Industry
  • Banque Ouest Africaine de Développement (BOAD)
  • ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID)
  • Shelter Afrique Development Bank (ShafDB)
  • Trade and Development Bank Group (TDB Group)

SME Bank of the Year

  • Co-operative Bank of Kenya Ltd.
  • CRDB Bank Plc.
  • Ecobank
  • Standard Bank
  • Uganda Development Bank

Deal of the Year – Infrastructure

  • US$83.35 MM Al Zahy Group For General Contracting (Ahmed El Zzahy & Co.) – National Bank of Egypt
  • US$646.64 MM (ZAR 12 Billion) Envusa Energy – Absa Bank Ltd. / Rand Merchant Bank
  • US$1.9 Billion Kano Maradi Railway Project – African Finance Corporation / African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank)
  • Project Platinum – US$200 MM Dividends Backed Capital Raise by BUA Industries Limited – Africa Finance Corporation
  • US$188.62 MM (ZAR 3.5 Billion) Scatec Mogobe Battery Energy Storage System – Standard Bank
  • US$1.04 Billion Suez 1.1 GW Wind Power Project in Egypt: Powering Africa’s Renewable Future – African Development Bank
  • US$1.20 Billion (ZAR 22.25 Billion) Mokolo Crocodile River Water Augmentation – Standard Bank

Deal of the Year – Debt

  • US$119 MM Green, Social and Sustainable Development Bond – ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID)
  • US$2.05 Billion Bank of Industry – 2024 Facility – Afreximbank/Africa Finance Corporation/ Bank of Industry
  • US$394 MM ETC Group (Mauritius), Inaugural Sustainability Linked Loan (SLL) – Trade and Development Bank Group (TDB Group)
  • US$13 Billion Ghana’s Eurobond Debt Restructuring – Hogan Lovells
  • US$18 MM Letshego Holdings Namibia Limited Social Bond – Rand Merchant Bank (RMB)
  • Republic of Benin €507.5 facility – African Trade Insurance Agency
  • Sahara Group’s US$500 MM Debt Sub-Participation Financing – Africa Finance Corporation
  • US$ 590 MM – The Egyptian Chemical Industries Company (KIMA) – National Bank of Egypt

Deal of the Year – Equity

  • Aradel Holdings’ US$2 Billion Listing by Introduction on Nigerian Exchange Limited – Standard Bank
  • Boxer’s US$470 MM Initial Public Offering (IPO) – Standard Bank
  • FQM’s US$1.15 Billion Bought Deal on the Toronto Stock Exchange- Absa Bank Ltd.
  • Nigerian Breweries’ US$352 MM Rights Issue – Standard Bank
  • Renaissance Acquisition of Shell- US$2.4 Billion – PwC Nigeria
  • Boxer’s US$470 MM Initial Public Offering (IPO) – Absa Bank / Standard Bank

Distributed by African Media Agency. on behalf of IC Publications

About the African Banker Awards

The African Banker Awards are prestigious awards that celebrate excellence and best practices in banking and finance in Africa. These annual awards honour outstanding individuals and remarkable financial institutions that are transforming the continent’s financial sector and contributing to economic development and financial inclusion in Africa.

Organised by African Banker magazine in partnership with IC Events, the Awards bring together industry leaders from across the continent to honour innovation, resilience and competitiveness in the African banking sector.

For more information about the African Banker Awards, please visit our website at www.AfricanBankerAwards.com.

About African Banker

African Banker is a pan-African publication dedicated to the banking industry across the continent. African Banker provides in-depth analysis and commentary on the trends shaping Africa’s financial landscape.

As a trusted source of information, African Banker offers a unique perspective on the challenges and opportunities facing the African banking sector.

For any further information, please contact Constance Haasz at the following address: c.haasz@icpublications.com

Source : African Media Agency (AMA)

Business

What are Financial Services and Why Should You Care?

Maravi Post Reporter

It can be hard to gauge the true value of the world’s financial services sector, but collated figures suggest that this entity generated a staggering £132 billion to the UK economy alone in 2019.

From a global perspective, the total value of financial services across the globe are thought to have peaked at $20.4 trillion in 2020, with this figure expected to reach $22.5 trillion by the end of this year.

However, financial services remains a broad term with many potential market niches, so it’s important to understand this before determining why the sector is so important across the globe.

What are Financial Services?

In simple and broad terms, the financial services space delivers a diverse range of fiscal services and products to people and corporations. The sector is best renowned for managing and transferring capital, driving sustained economic growth and arguably underpinning every single industry.

From a more detailed perspective, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) describes financial services as the various processes by which consumers and firms acquire fiscal goods, through the use of everything from fixed capital to loans, credit cards and financing agreements.

This huge segment of the global economy comprises a suitably large selection of firms and service providers, from banks, lenders and investment houses to insurance companies and real estate brokers.

Thanks to its cumulative value, diversity and deceptively large reach, the financial services industry is considered to be the most important economic sector. It certainly leads the way in terms of total earnings and equity market capitalisation, with large conglomerates dominating the space and handling huge sums of cash every single day.

Why are Financial Services Important?

As we’ve already touched on, financial services are key to economic growth and the success of individual industries, and it continues to be the primary driver of the global economy as a whole (but particularly in developed economies).

Most importantly, it provides the free-flow of liquidity and capital in the financial marketplace, creating economic strength and growth within a well-established and regulated framework.

Similarly, a failing or underwhelming financial services sector can drag down national economies and usher in periods of recession, while making products less accessible to individuals across the board.

This includes simple and customisable forex platforms such as the Webtrader MT4, which have broken down the various barriers to entry that once surrounded the financial market and underpinned record levels of activity through 2019.

Banks are also an integral part of the financial services space, particularly from the perspective of lending capital and helping to populate the small business marketplace.

Without this type of service, it would be incredibly hard to maintain economic growth over an extended period of time and create levels of full employment within individual nations.