Frontiers in Finance : Center of attention !

The eyes of millions of
sports fans around the
world turn to South
Africa this month, as the
2010 FIFA World Cup
kicks off. Beyond its
sporting content, the South African
government hopes the tournament will
generate substantial economic spin-off,
and has invested heavily in transport
and infrastructure improvements
across the country. It is appropriate,
therefore, that this issue of frontiers in
finance has a special focus on Africa.
In many ways, Africa is a forgotten
continent for financial services: we
focus much of our attention on Europe,
the Americas and the Middle and Far
East. Yet Africa is home to a billion
people, has a collective GDP of some
US$3 trillion, and is increasingly a target
of major inward investment, most
notably from China.