Standard Bank Corporate and Investment Banking will host the second edition of its African Markets Conference from 22 to 24 February 2026 in Cape Town, bringing together global institutional investors, sovereign wealth funds and African policymakers with a shared objective: accelerating the flow of capital into the continent’s most critical growth sectors.
Building on the inaugural conference in 2025, which sought to reframe perceptions of Africa from risk to resilience, the 2026 edition places a sharper focus on execution. According to Luvuyo Masinda, Chief Executive of Corporate and Investment Banking at Standard Bank Group, the emphasis this year is on translating policy intent into investable opportunity.
Masinda argues that Africa’s challenge is no longer a lack of opportunity, but the need for practical mechanisms that deepen capital pools, improve market liquidity and strengthen regulatory frameworks. These, he says, are the foundations required to give investors the confidence to deploy capital at scale.
The urgency is clear. By 2050, Africa’s population is expected to increase by one billion people, with more than half living in cities. Yet the continent currently invests only around $75bn a year in infrastructure, roughly half of what is required to meet its development needs. Against this backdrop, Standard Bank sees the African Markets Conference as a platform to ensure that African priorities remain firmly embedded in the global financial conversation.
The conference programme is structured around five strategic themes designed to unlock investment. Infrastructure is positioned as an asset class in its own right, with a focus on moving beyond aid towards public private partnerships that can attract long-term private capital. Energy transition will feature prominently, highlighting Africa’s renewable potential and its role in global energy security.
Discussions will also centre on deepening African capital markets, improving regulatory transparency and mobilising private capital, alongside the need to strengthen intra-African trade and investment flows. In an increasingly uncertain global investment climate, speakers will examine how regional integration, particularly through the African Continental Free Trade Area, can create a larger and more predictable market for investors.
A further pillar will address sovereign debt sustainability, shifting the debate from access to finance towards affordability, credibility and structure. The aim is to reduce perceived risk premiums while supporting the development of deeper domestic capital markets.
AMC 2026 is expected to attract a high-level delegation of decision-makers, including finance ministers, central bank governors and infrastructure ministers from across the continent, alongside global asset managers, institutional investors and development finance institutions. Senior Standard Bank executives, including Group Chief Executive Sim Tshabalala, Luvuyo Masinda (Chief Executive of Standard Bank CIB), Sola Adegbesan (Head of Global Markets Africa Regions and International Clients) and Alex Davidson (Head of Global Markets SA), will lead technical discussions on market liquidity and capital mobilisation.
More than a forum for dialogue, the conference is intended as a call to action for both public and private sectors. As Africa faces mounting development pressures and shifting global capital flows, the organisers hope AMC 2026 will help chart a clearer, more investable roadmap for the continent’s growth.