Author: Samuel Kazadi

Access Bank doubles down on East Africa expansion The Lagos-based Access Bank PLC on 20 June 2025 received final regulatory clearance to absorb the retail and wealth-management portfolios of Standard Chartered Bank Tanzania. According to group chief executive Roosevelt Ogbonna, the transaction, whose value remains undisclosed, adds roughly 150,000 clients and an estimated USD 1 billion in assets under management to the Nigerian lender’s East African balance sheet, reinforcing a strategy articulated immediately after its 2019 merger with Diamond Bank. Ogbonna declared that “Dar es Salaam offers a springboard to the Great Lakes corridor”, framing the deal as a precursor…

A Strategic Gathering in Changsha The bustling metropolis of Changsha, in China’s Hunan province, recently hosted the fourth edition of the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo, held from June 12th to 15th. This pivotal event underscored the geopolitical and economic interests of both continents as they converged to explore mutual opportunities. The Expo drew in a crowd of over 4,700 participants and 28,000 visitors, symbolizing the robust nexus of Sino-African economic cooperation that seeks to burgeon under the theme ‘China-Africa: Marching Towards Modernization Together.’ Congo’s Mission: Diversification and Engagement Leading the Congolese delegation was Jacqueline Lydia Mikolo, Congolese Minister of…