Laura Spinale

1 month ago | gfmag.com | Andrew Singer |Laura Spinale |Justin Keay |Andrea Murad

For sustainable finance, 2024 was the best of times and the worst of times. On the positive side, issuance of impact bonds, sometimes called “GSS+” bonds (green, social, sustainability, and sustainability-linked instruments) totaled $1.1 trillion, according to provisional data published by the Climate Bond Initiative (CBI) in January. However, on the red side of the ledger, the global coalition to contain climate change seemed to be fracturing by the end of the year.

Oct 31, 2024 | gfmag.com | Simon Littlewood |John Njiraini |Laura Spinale |Andrea Murad

United Bank for Africa (UBA) is celebrating its 75th anniversary. Among its hallmarks is an unwavering commitment to driving the growth of small and midsize enterprises (SMEs) in Africa. For UBA—boasting $20 billion in assets, $454.2 million in pretax profits in 2023, and a presence in 20 markets on the continent and four global centers—empowering SMEs means fueling Africa’s economic development. Its home market of Nigeria is a poster case.

Sep 5, 2024 | gfmag.com | Laura Spinale

In Brazil, the Pix payment system lets people, corporations, and governments transfer and accept funds instantly, 24 hours a day—even when banks are closed. Released in late 2020 by the Banco Central Do Brasil, Pix has been lauded for its convenience and the financial services it provides to Brazil’s significant unbanked and underbanked populations.

Mar 3, 2024 | gfmag.com | Andrea Murad |Andrew Singer |Laura Spinale

Issuance of “impact” bonds, sometimes referred to as GSS+ bonds—green, social, sustainability and sustainability-linked instruments—totaled $939 billion in 2023, a slight 3% improvement over 2022, according to Bloomberg data. The sector has yet to match the record heights of 2021. 1. Introduction2. Global Winners3. Regional Winners:AfricaAsia-PacificCentral and Eastern EuropeLatin AmericaNorth AmericaWestern EuropeBut there are reasons to believe 2024 may be different.

Dec 5, 2023 | gfmag.com | Laura Spinale

Global Finance: When you switched to a digital-only bank, how did you determine which services you wanted to offer to SME [small and midsize enterprise] clients? Gabriel Motomura: When we launched, we went to the United States. We went to Eastern and Western Europe. We wanted to see what banks were doing globally to help SMEs. We wanted to know the No. 1 bottleneck that prevented SMEs from growing. And we went back home and started asking around.