Standard Bank, the biggest bank in Africa by assets, is gearing up to host its first African Markets Conference (AMC).

The Conference, which will be held in Cape Town this week, is a key element of Standard Bank’s drive to improve integration and ease of doing business across the continent.

"This conference aims to provide a platform for attracting new capital flows and uniting global and African sources of capital and risk appetite," explains Luvuyo Masinda, Chief Executive of Corporate and Investment Banking at Standard Bank Group.

The Conference is being hosted at a time when the African Continental Free Trade Area established in 2018 has seen broad ratification across 48 countries on the continent. The World Bank estimates that the agreement can potentially increase the continent’s income by $450 billion in just over a decade and increase intra-African exports by more than 81%.

The Conference will feature the Right Honourable Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1997 - 2007) and Executive Chairman of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change. It will also include panel discussions with speakers spanning regulators, government representatives and business leaders drawn from across the continent.

“As a bank that is focused on driving Africa’s growth, with a unique international reach, this Conference is an important outlet to co-create economic growth solutions that we believe can lead to broader development outcomes,” concludes Masinda.