UK fintech TransferWise rocketed to a US$5bn valuation this summer when it completed a second share sale, as the Covid-19 crisis puts the spotlight on the ability to send currency quickly and easily across borders.

Central and Eastern Europe is ripe for a fintech boom with internal interest and external investment lining up, but a mish-mash of regulatory standards makes it difficult for plucky start-up companies to implement region-spanning plans.

Two years after its launch, the blockchain-based platform from IBM and Maersk is capturing millions of supply chain events every week, with banks like Standard Chartered coming on board. 

The seventy-one countries who hold shares in the development bank that promotes private enterprise first in Central and Eastern Europe, and now much further abroad will choose the new president at their delayed annual meeting in October.

The European Commission is ramping up towards a €750bn Covid-19 recovery programme, effectively creating a huge new borrower in Europe’s sovereign, supranational and agency bond market.

Azerbaijani chemical company Socar Polymer printed a market-record size dollar bond on the domestic market over the summer, with bankers on the ground in the country now looking to attract international money.

John Lloyd is a financial markets fintech veteran, leading global marketing at foreign exchange trading platform Traiana, which was sold to ICAP for US$247m over a decade ago. Now, personal tragedy and a keen desire to help others has seen him move away from finance and into education technology with the child-focused digital community platform GoBubble.

Qatar Islamic Bank broke new ground in the Sharia-compliant market this year when it printed the first ever Sukuk in Taiwan’s Formosa market. The bank’s chief financial officer tells EMEA Finance that the deal is expected to open the way for more similar issuance.

15 years since the G8 leaders wrote off debt for the poorest countries in Africa, there is a need for new debt suspension measures. 

While sub-Saharan Africa has been devastated by the coronavirus, some countries have been hit harder than others and the prospects for recovery across the continent are mixed.

Bahrain looks set to benefit from its prompt reaction to the coronavirus pandemic and from its investment in economic activity that has become more essential during the global lockdown.

For the first time in the report’s history, the top five risks on the report all relate to climate change with geopolitical turbulence complicating the picture.