The environmental and societal issues at the center of the Group's strategic thinking and action

Excellent results for the Group’s universal banking model

Cocoa – a key product needed by the West to make chocolate – is mainly grown in sub-Saharan Africa. The region represents 75% of global production and two countries together account for over 50%: Côte d’Ivoire (44%) and Ghana (14.3%). At the regional level, these two countries account for 60% and 19% of Africa’s cocoa production respectively, followed by Cameroon and Nigeria at 8% each.

The burgeoning semiconductor industry of the 1950s was highly integrated, involving players who spanned the entire value chain, from design to manufacturing, assembly, testing and packaging. As time went on, the industry embarked on a frenetic race towards miniaturisation, resulting in a significant increase in the density of transistors that could be etched onto each square millimetre of silicon wafer. Since 1965, this density has doubled roughly every 18 months. The semiconductor industry today can etch as many as 300 million transistors per square millimetre. But this has also resulted in a fragmented and globalised industry.

While inflation dominated proceedings in 2022, in 2023 the spotlight will be on growth.