Islamic finance has caught the interest of a number of African sovereigns in recent years. But on a local currency level, it has actually been around a while. Standard Bank’s global head of debt primary markets Megan McDonald, shares her insights with EMEA Finance.

Like so many hyped events, the first day of liberalised trading on the Tadawul, Saudi Arabia’s Stock Exchange, was a little bit underwhelming. Many commentators expected foreign investors to be queuing up at the door, waiting for entry into a room full of blue chip shares from previously inaccessible multi-billion-dollar market-cap companies.

Turkey has seen a re-balancing of its political landscape. The economic consequences are more difficult to ascertain. Analysts at BNP Paribas Investment Partners, the asset management arm of the French bank, believe there is likely to be short-term volatility but the long term implications of these results are quite positive.

Pan-African investment bank Ecobank appoints Ade Ayeyemi as its new CEO.

As well as having much of the risk drained out of it, the securitisation market is also growing again. Up to the end of May 2015, the volume of securitisation in EMEA was up 68% at US$24.7bn, the most active first quarter since 2007 when it hit US$150bn.

Egypt’s domestic capital markets have been experiencing something of a resurgence, particularly its stock exchange. Listings started to pick up last year when in May Arabian Cement Company (ACC) tested the market with a US$109mn IPO.

Last year saw the closing of the largest African-led transaction to take place in Central Africa. The leader of that deal, Ecobank Capital’s Mohamed El Fadel Kane, speaks to EMEA Finance about the deal and what’s in the pipeline for this year.

On June 5 Norway’s parliament approved a proposal that will see its gargantuan US$900bn Government Pension Fund Global divest stakes in mining companies that derive more than 30% of their revenues from coal and power companies that are more than 30% reliant on coal for generation.

Banks and asset managers are rushing-in to adopt environmental, social and governance (ESG) risk when making investment decisions. They are starting to provide their clients with direct assess to professional advisors who specialise in this area as well.

Being a signatory to the UN Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) has become a badge of honour for many pension funds and asset managers.

In June, EMEA Finance held a roundtable on environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment. Topics under discussion included the growing threat of ESG-related risk, how to turn knowledge into an investment tool, and what banks can learn from corporates.

In 2008, Abu Dhabi embarked on ambitious plans to create a world-leading sustainable eco-city that would serve as a blueprint for how other cities can accommodate rapid urbanisation while reducing energy output, water and waste. This vision was realised in Masdar City – a city reliant on clean energy generated on-site from rooftop solar technology as well as one of the largest photovoltaic (PV) installations in the Middle East.