Bloomberg A regulatory spring-clean that’s cut the number of Ghanaian banks by almost a third is strengthening the industry, brightening prospects for lending growth and easing the pain of unpaid debts. The expanding economy is also helping lenders put behind them years of challenges weighing on the West African nation — including daily power outages, poor banking regulation and an …

Bloomberg Weaker global growth and trade protectionism could start to gnaw on company investment in the euro area, according to the European Central Bank (ECB). “Increasing uncertainties at the global level constitute a downside risk to the outlook, particularly for business investment,” according to an article to be published in the ECB’s bulletin. Malin Andersson and Benjamin Mosk argue there’s …

Dubai / Emirates Business Mergermarket, the leading provider of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) data and intelligence, has released research showing that in 2018 the Mena region experienced a significant spike in deal value, reaching $26.76 billion, compared with $15.86 billion in 2017 — an increase of 68.7%. The significant growth in deal value was driven by increased deal-making in the …