FT News Briefing

Another coup in Africa

Aug 31, 2023

08:49

Snipd AI

A coup in Gabon, concerns over Goldman Sachs' relationship with fintech, and the founder of Foxconn running for president of Taiwan. The trend of successful coups in Western Central Africa and the US strategy for resolving business issues with China. The impact of Raimondo's visit on US-China tensions and an analysis of the upcoming Taiwan presidential election.

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Episode notes

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Quick takeaways

US regulators are concerned about Goldman Sachs' relationship with risky FinTech clients, leading to the bank stopping the acceptance of such clients and raising internal concerns.

The coup in Gabon targeting President Ali Bongo indicates a growing trend of emboldened military leaders in Africa, with neighboring countries' coups serving as inspiration and posing a threat to long-ruling leaders.

Deep dives

US regulators concerned about Goldman Sachs' relationship with FinTech companies

US regulators are raising concerns over Goldman Sachs' relationship with risky FinTech clients. The Federal Reserve warned Goldman Sachs about insufficient due diligence when accepting these clients, leading the bank's team to stop signing on risky FinTech clients. Internal complaints about the same issue were also reported. The bank's team affected by the warning has clients such as payment startups Stripe and Wise.

Introduction

2min

Trend of Successful Coups in Western Central Africa

2min

US Strategy for Resolving Business Issues with China

2min

Stabilizing US-China economic relationship and the entry of Terry Go in Taiwan's presidential race

3min

Military officers in oil-rich Gabon said they had seized power, US commerce secretary Gina Raimondo wrapped up a visit to China, and the billionaire founder of Apple supplier Foxconn is running for president of Taiwan.

Mentioned in this podcast:

Fed warned Goldman Sachs over risks and compliance oversight at fintech unit

Military leaders seize power in oil-rich Gabon

US commerce secretary hails ‘new approach’ to handling China business frictions

Foxconn founder Terry Gou launches bid for Taiwan presidency

Correction: An earlier version of this episode said hat Terry Gou, the Taiwanese tycoon and Foxconn founder was running for president with an opposition party closely aligned with China. That was a mistake. Gou has urged opposition parties to join forces with him in the forthcoming election, but they haven’t agreed to do so. And Taiwan’s opposition parties are not closely aligned with China, although they do favour an easing of tensions with Beijing.

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The FT News Briefing is produced by Fiona Symon, Sonja Hutson, Kasia Broussalian and Marc Filippino. Additional help from Monique Mulima, Monica Lopez, Peter Barber, Michael Lello, David da Silva and Gavin Kallmann. Topher Forhecz is the FT’s executive producer. The FT’s global head of audio is Cheryl Brumley. The show’s theme song is by Metaphor Music.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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