This article is brought to you thanks to the collaboration of The European Sting with the World Economic Forum. Author: Fehintolu Olaogun, CEO and Co-founder, CredPal E-commerce in Africa increased by 57% between 2019 and 2020.Lack of access to consumer credit is holding back the retail sector.Credit could expand purchasing power and increase e-commerce. Retail in Africa is […]How consumer credit can drive growth in Africa’s emerging e-commerce sector
August 11, 2022 by Leave a Comment
This article is brought to you thanks to the collaboration of The European Sting with the World Economic Forum. Author: Fehintolu Olaogun, CEO and Co-founder, CredPal E-commerce in Africa increased by 57% between 2019 and 2020.Lack of access to consumer credit is holding back the retail sector.Credit could expand purchasing power and increase e-commerce. Retail in Africa is […]Consumer protection: Commission revises EU rules on product safety and consumer credit
June 30, 2021 by 1 Comment
This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission. Today, the European Commission has proposed revisions of two sets of EU rules to enhance consumer rights in a world reshaped by digitalisation and the COVID-19 pandemic. The Commission is reinforcing its safety net for EU consumers, for example, by making sure that dangerous […]Predicting two more years of economic stagnation
January 10, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Yesterday, as expected, the European Central Bank kept its basic interest rate unchanged at 0.25%. As usually, the decision was taken in the meeting of the bank’s Governing Council, the first of 2014. At this almost zero interest rate cost commercial banks get ample liquidity from the ECB and then lend this money to the […]The financial sector cripples Eurozone growth prospects
January 6, 2014 by Leave a Comment
According to a European Central Bank Press release published on 3 January 2014, Eurozone banks further reduced their overall outstanding balance of loans to the private sector during November 2013. Given that industrial multinationals and big services firms do not rely on bank loans for their financing, it’s mainly the SMEs that have been deprived […]The EU Commission lets money market funds continue the unholy game of banks
September 5, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The European Commission adopted yesterday a proposal for measures on shadow banking introducing new but quite loose and thus ineffective rules and controls for money market funds (MMFs). This is a parallel financial system created by the major banks in order to avoid even the few controls and restrictions that the official banking system has […]An EU Summit without purpose
June 28, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The most important news from the first day of the 27+1 EU leaders’ gathering (European Council) yesterday was that the Ecofin council of the 27 ministers of Finance managed to come up with an agreement over the bank resolution and recovery, and also that the EU Parliament agreed with the Commission on the Union budgets […]Whose interests are protected by the new Mortgage Directive?
April 23, 2013 by 4 Comments
At a time when very few European consumers decide to look for a mortgage to buy a new home and the European lenders very sparingly grant such loans, the European Commission found the opportunity to launch its new initiative on a Mortgage Directive, supposedly to better protect consumers. Under the experience of the past four […]Can Eurozone stand economic and financial fragmentation?
April 3, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Eurozone unemployment rate peaked in February 2013 at 12% but this number says nothing about the real structural problems of the single money zone. The burning issue is the fast growing divergence of unemployment opportunities between the surplus countries in the North and the over indebted member states in the South, plus Ireland. According to […]South Eurozone needs some…inflation and liquidity
March 16, 2013 by Leave a Comment
As it was expected, Eurostat proved to be right in its last week’s estimate that February yearly inflation was less than 2% on the average in the 17 member states Eurozone. As a matter of fact yesterday’s announcement of the EU’s statistical service revealed that February inflation was 1.8%. Inflation rates diverged wildly between the […]
