Technology is revolutionizing the work we do and how we do it. Increasingly, artificial intelligence (AI) and robots are taking over menial and repetitive tasks, leaving humans to concentrate on work that requires critical thinking. But as machines become better at imitating human intelligence, they’re beginning to do more and more thinking for us. In a recent study, LawGeex, a legal tech startup, challenged a group of 20 experienced lawyers to test their skills and knowledge against its AI-powered algorithm. A legal battleThe group included associates and inhouse lawyers from global firms such as Goldman Sachs, Cisco and Alston & Bird, as well…
Author: The Editor
The say the nicest and healthiest red roses have the biggest thorns on their stems. A very similar concept to high risk high return phenomenon. Yields on short dated government debt, in Africa’s copper producer Zambia, are paying as high as 23.56% in the year. Very rosy returns for surplus units searching for margin especially given that inflation is 8.3%, premiums are fairly high. Deposit taking Microfins have made it more attractive by adding 200bps spread above to pay a 26% on 1-year fixed income. Afterall they charge 45% (and above) for retail credit. The 1-year treasury bill has for…
Vedanta Resources PLC parent company to Zambia’s Konkola Copper Mines and Vedanta Zinc International SA had its regional Chief Executive Deshnee Naidoo make it to the top 100 list of women in mining (WIM). Deshnee features on No.73 in the latest Women in Mining (WIM) magazine released last week. Deshnee took over the Zambian operation succeeding Steven Din. “When your existing mining industry has historically depended on a large workforce of unskilled or semi-skilled people, mechanization and digitisation are seen as threats. We have to ensure that these changes are understood as opportunities for up-skilling and development, allowing employees to…
There’s needs growth stimulus in light of anaemic growth as evidenced by softer PMI’s Inflation is fully reflective of fuel price hike and weak currency effects and still below MPR These factors override the rising cost of funding shown by secondary market kwacha curve This week the Bank of Zambia will have its last rate decision meeting for the year 2018. Deliberations will commence on the 19 Nov. with stakeholders through to the 20 Nov. with the final announcement to be made on Wednesday 21 Nov. The BOZ bottomed on its interventions in February this year following a 575bps easing…
Commercial banking YTD (Q1-Q3: 2018) headline earnings, as per published prudential returns, showed that the profit after tax (PAT) earnings were unchanged at K1bn. This reflected a marginal 0.3% slide compared to YTD (Q1-Q3: 2017) with BBZ (K249mn), SCB (K221mn), SBZ (K155mn) and BOC (K103mn). These commercial banks contributed 74% of the industry earnings leaving the other 14 banks to grapple with 28%. Widening doubtful debt stock in 2018 The stock of doubtful debts in Africa’s copper producer, Zambia, more than doubled to K650mn from K302mn. This represented a 115% year on year rise. This was due to a deteriorated …
Zambia’s economy has been projected to grow at 4.1% in 2018. Tightening of monetary policy by the Bank of Zambia has been effective in stabilising the exchange rate (a Kwacha will cost you about R1.20). However, according to export.gov, most sectors in Zambia are uncompetitive and are dominated by a few large players; banking is no exception. Marketing manager Ndela Sichizya gives us a brief look into the emergence of a new bank, Atlas Mara Zambia. Moonga Mkandawire: Who are the primary players in the Zambian banking market? Ndela Sichizya: 1. Barclays. 2. Stanbic (Standard Bank). 3. Stanchart (Standard Chartered Bank).…
25% of transaction on the LME are done by the Chinese Demand for copper options on the SHFE is set to increase further Resource endowed Africa is not the only place where China has very keen interest in, the markets where these resources trade are. These are fast becoming dominant spots for the world’s second largest economy. One such market the Chinese have shown keen affinity for is the copper futures market. The London Metal Exchange – LME has recorded 25% of its transaction to be Chinese related. Liu Yang, head of corporate sales and China business development for the…
A new report by Navigant Research estimates the U.S. wind energy market will grow by 48.7 GW between 2018 and 2027, boosting copper demand 25% by 2020. The report, commissioned by the Copper Development Association (CDA), estimates copper demand for wind energy will peak at 48,358 tons in 2020, an increase from 38,453 tons in 2018. Additionally, the report shows that the U.S.’s expanding development of offshore wind, with a forecast growth of 11.1% from 2017-2022, compared to single-digit growth rates for onshore wind. Offshore wind requires significantly more copper at an estimated 21,076 lbs. per MW (41% higher than that…
Artificial intelligence is what will take Africa’s digital revolution to the next level, Francis Mumbi a Digital Innovation Lead at Stanbic Zambia said in a sideline interview of the Aritificial Intelligence Summit in Cape Town. At a global level, we are seeing the application of AI in medicine, education, natural and physical sciences but most importantly in financial service provision in driving financial inclusion. The potential AI sits with in Africa is delivering better product services to customers across a broad spectrum of demographics delivering access to financial products and services in the area of credit. If you are going…
International mining firm Glencore’s local joint venture Katanga Mining has stopped exports – but not production – of cobalt from its Kamoto mine in the far south of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), citing concerns about excessive radioactivity. It has proposed to first set up a machine to remove radioactivity, but reports suggest that this would not be operational until Q219. The government in Kinshasa has protested this move as it claims it was not consulted and state-owned miner Gecamines – which owns 25.0% of the mine – argues that it had no part in the decision. This…