Airtel Money is preparing to list on the London Stock Exchange, setting the stage for one of the most significant public-market debuts by an African digital financial services business as it seeks to expand beyond its existing customer base and deepen its position in the continent’s fast-growing mobile payments market.

The company, which operates across 13 African markets, said it plans to publish a prospectus in early October, with the final offer price expected in mid-October after an institutional book-building process. The proposed offering will involve only existing shares, meaning Airtel Money itself will not receive proceeds from the sale.

The company expects at least 10% of its shares to be in public hands following the listing. The International Finance Corporation has agreed to invest up to £67.2 million, or about $90 million, as a cornerstone investor, subject to the final offer price and other conditions.

The decision to sell existing shares rather than raise fresh capital is significant. Airtel Money says it is debt-free, capital-light and highly cash-generative, allowing it to pursue a public listing without relying on the IPO to finance its expansion.

“Today marks the start of a new chapter for Airtel Money as we announce our plans to list on the London Stock Exchange,” CEO Ian Ferrao said.

He said the business had reached approximately 53 million monthly active users and was entering the market with the financial capacity to fund its next stage of expansion.

The numbers underpinning the IPO are substantial. Airtel Money processed $213 billion in total payment value in the 12 months to June 30, 2026, while revenue reached $1.346 billion in the financial year ended March 2026. EBITDA stood at $676 million, giving the business an EBITDA margin of roughly 50%.

The company also reported a pre-tax cash conversion ratio above 90% in each of the past three financial years. Capital expenditure accounted for only 3% of revenue in the year ended March 2026, while Airtel Money said it had no external borrowings.

That combination of high margins, low capital requirements and strong cash generation is likely to be central to the investment case as Airtel Money approaches international investors. It also distinguishes the business from many younger fintech companies that continue to rely heavily on external funding to finance growth.

Airtel Network Provides A Large Expansion Opportunity

Airtel Money’s existing scale is only part of the growth story. The company said its 53 million monthly active users represented about 41% of Airtel Africa’s 128.9 million telecommunications subscribers. That leaves more than 75 million Airtel subscribers who are not currently using Airtel Money, creating a large potential customer pool without requiring the business to build an entirely new distribution network.

The relationship with Airtel Africa is particularly important because the telecom company remains Airtel Money’s founding shareholder and distribution partner. The mobile operator provides access to an established customer base, retail presence, and agent network across its markets.

Customer numbers have grown at a compound annual rate of 20% from March 2018 through June 2026. Total payment value has grown even faster, with dollar-denominated TPV increasing at a 33% compound annual rate over the same period.

The growth also shows how mobile money has evolved beyond basic person-to-person transfers in many African markets. Airtel Money has expanded into a broader digital financial services platform, allowing customers to make payments and conduct other financial transactions through mobile devices in markets where traditional banking infrastructure remains uneven.

For investors, the opportunity extends beyond the current 53 million users. Airtel Money is effectively seeking to monetize an existing telecommunications ecosystem while increasing the frequency and value of transactions among its customers.

The proposed London listing also gives the business access to an international investor base at a time when global investors have increasingly focused on African financial technology and digital payments. The IFC’s participation as a cornerstone investor provides an additional institutional endorsement of the offering, although the eventual valuation will depend on the price range and market conditions disclosed in the prospectus.

The IPO has been in preparation for several years. Airtel Africa had been exploring a listing of its mobile money operation since at least 2025, when Citi was reported to have been selected as lead adviser. Airtel Africa subsequently identified London as its preferred listing venue in July 2026.

The business has expanded rapidly during that period. Airtel Africa reported that Airtel Money generated $1.08 billion in revenue in the financial year ended March 2026, compared with $770 million a year earlier.

The proposed transaction nevertheless comes with an important limitation for investors: Airtel Money will not receive new capital from the IPO. The offering is therefore primarily a shareholder liquidity event and a mechanism for establishing a public market valuation rather than a direct funding exercise for expansion.

That could make the company’s ability to sustain its existing growth rate crucial after listing. With the business already generating substantial cash and carrying no external debt, management will need to demonstrate that further expansion can continue through its existing operating model while converting the large pool of Airtel Africa subscribers who have yet to adopt its financial services.

The prospectus will provide the market with the missing pieces, including the indicative price range, offer size and detailed financial and risk disclosures. Those details will determine how investors value a business whose growth profile is closely tied to Africa’s continuing shift toward digital payments.

However, Airtel Money is positioning the London IPO around a combination of scale, profitability and further room for penetration. Its 53 million users and $213 billion in annual payment value already give it substantial weight in African digital finance, while the much larger Airtel subscriber base provides a built-in avenue for expansion.

Heavy investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure is helping the global economy remain more resilient than previously expected in 2026, but an increasingly persistent energy shock is threatening to weaken growth and keep inflation elevated into 2027, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development said on Wednesday.

The OECD raised its forecast for global economic growth this year to 2.9%, from 2.8% in its June outlook, although the pace would still represent a marked slowdown from the 3.4% expansion recorded last year.

The improvement is being driven in part by an investment cycle centered on AI, with companies continuing to spend heavily on data centers, semiconductors and related infrastructure. The OECD said that spending has become an important source of economic resilience, particularly in the United States, while also supporting technology exports from major Asian producers such as Japan and South Korea.

But the organization’s more cautious outlook for 2027 highlights the growing tension between the AI investment boom and a deteriorating energy environment.

Global growth is now projected at 3.0% next year, down from the 3.1% forecast in June. The downgrade is largely linked to the commodity price shock associated with the conflict in the Middle East, which is expected to weigh on household purchasing power, business costs and economic activity.

The OECD’s assessment points to an important question for the global economy: whether the strength of AI-related capital spending can continue to offset weakness elsewhere, particularly if energy costs remain elevated and financial conditions become more restrictive.

The organization warned that the outlook could deteriorate substantially if several risks materialize simultaneously. These include renewed energy-market volatility, extreme weather associated with a strong El Niño, rising government bond yields and weaker-than-expected returns from AI investment.

Taken together, those risks could reduce global growth by 0.7 percentage points next year while increasing global inflation by 1.1 percentage points, according to the OECD.

That risk has raised concerns because inflation is already proving more persistent than previously anticipated. The OECD raised its forecast for inflation across the G20 economies to 4.1% in 2026, from 4.0% in its June forecast. Its 2027 projection was increased much more sharply, to 3.6% from 3.1%.

The higher inflation outlook could complicate central banks’ path. If energy costs begin feeding into broader prices, monetary policymakers may have less room to reduce interest rates even as economic growth weakens. The OECD said central banks could be forced to adjust policy if price pressures broaden or economic activity deteriorates.

AI Investment Offsets Weaker Demand in The US

The United States remains one of the clearest examples of the economy being supported by the AI investment cycle.

The OECD raised its US growth forecast to 2.2% for 2026 and 2.1% for 2027, both higher than its previous projections. Heavy investment linked to AI is helping offset weaker consumer spending, providing a powerful source of demand at a time when households are facing higher costs.

The resilience, however, comes with a serious vulnerability. Much of the current investment boom is concentrated in a relatively narrow part of the economy, particularly technology infrastructure. Data centers, advanced chips and other computing infrastructure require enormous amounts of capital and energy. That means the economic benefits of the AI boom could weaken if companies begin questioning the returns from the enormous sums being committed to AI infrastructure.

US inflation is expected to reach 3.6% in 2026 before easing to 2.6% in 2027. The OECD said tariffs and higher energy prices are likely to put pressure on household purchasing power and increase costs for businesses.

This creates a difficult combination for policymakers. AI investment can support growth, but higher energy prices and trade costs can simultaneously push inflation higher.

China faces a different set of constraints. The OECD expects the world’s second-largest economy to grow 4.5% in 2026 and 4.2% in 2027, leaving its forecasts unchanged from June.

Beijing’s efforts to curb excess industrial capacity are expected to weigh on investment, while consumer spending is projected to recover gradually. The combination points to a Chinese economy increasingly dependent on domestic consumption as industrial investment faces tighter constraints.

Europe Faces A Sharper Energy Problem

The euro zone is expected to grow just 1.0% in both 2026 and 2027. Higher energy prices and interest rates are weighing on economic activity, although new defense spending initiatives are expected to provide some support.

Inflation presents a more immediate problem. The OECD forecasts euro zone inflation at 3.0% this year and 2.9% next year, well above the European Central Bank’s medium-term objective.

Natural gas prices are a particular concern. European gas storage levels are at 15-year lows heading into the winter heating season, leaving the region more exposed to further increases in energy costs.

The combination of weak growth and elevated inflation could limit the ability of policymakers to provide additional monetary support. If energy prices remain high for an extended period, the shock could also spread beyond headline inflation into transportation, manufacturing, food production and other parts of the economy.

Japan’s outlook is comparatively stable, with growth forecast at 0.8% in 2026 and 0.7% in 2027. Strong business investment is supporting activity, but higher policy rates and more expensive energy imports are expected to offset some of that strength. Japan also stands out because inflation is expected to accelerate rather than decline. The OECD projects inflation at 1.8% this year before rising to 2.6% in 2027, citing a tight labor market and strong wage growth.

Canada’s outlook has deteriorated more sharply. The OECD cut its 2026 growth forecast to 0.9% from 1.2% and reduced its 2027 projection to 1.3% from 1.7%, citing new US tariffs on Canadian exports.

The contrasting forecasts underline how uneven the global expansion has become. AI-related capital spending is providing a significant lift to some economies and industries, while energy costs, trade barriers, monetary tightening and weaker consumers are creating pressure elsewhere.

The central risk for 2027 is therefore not simply slower growth. It is the possibility that several shocks reinforce one another. A prolonged energy shock could raise inflation just as weaker demand reduces growth, while higher government bond yields could increase borrowing costs and put additional pressure on businesses and governments.

At the same time, the global economy is becoming increasingly reliant on whether the enormous investment in AI infrastructure ultimately translates into productivity gains and sustainable returns.

While the spending boom is currently helping prevent a sharper global slowdown, the OECD’s projections suggest, however, that AI investment alone may not be sufficient to shield the world economy from a prolonged energy shock, particularly if inflation remains elevated and financial conditions tighten further.

Turkey’s latest stock-market turmoil has drawn nearly half a million individual investors into a regulatory intervention involving more than $18 billion of investment-fund assets, exposing the liquidity and valuation risks that can emerge when large pools of money are concentrated in thinly traded shares.

The Capital Markets Board, known as the SPK, said on Wednesday that 455,758 individual investors hold stakes in the funds ordered to be liquidated. The figure, based on records from Turkey’s central securities depository, gives the clearest indication yet of the retail reach of a market disruption that began with difficulties meeting withdrawal requests and quickly spread into the wider stock market.

The SPK had ordered the liquidation of 131 funds managed by seven portfolio-management companies after the market selloff exposed problems at some funds. Authorities have also suspended transactions involving the affected funds and introduced measures designed to prevent the liquidity shock from generating a broader wave of forced selling.

The intervention came after some funds struggled to meet redemption requests as investors rushed to withdraw their money. That created a classic liquidity problem: funds can hold assets that appear valuable when markets are functioning normally but cannot necessarily be sold quickly at those prices when many investors seek cash simultaneously.

The problem became more acute because parts of Turkey’s equity market have relatively limited free floats and relatively few highly liquid companies capable of absorbing large institutional transactions. Reuters reported that the BIST-100 index fell more than 8% last week, its worst weekly performance since March 2025, as concerns over funds exposed to illiquid stocks intensified.

The mechanics have become necessary because if a fund receives heavy redemption requests, it must raise cash by selling assets. Where the portfolio contains thinly traded shares, those sales can push prices sharply lower. Falling prices reduce the value of the remaining portfolio, potentially encouraging more investors to redeem. That can create a feedback loop in which withdrawals cause selling, selling causes lower valuations, and lower valuations generate further withdrawals.

Turkey’s authorities moved quickly to interrupt that cycle.

The central bank increased funding available to banks, while regulators eased certain margin and capital requirements to reduce the risk of forced sales elsewhere in the market. Reuters reported that central-bank repo funding rose to 603 billion lira, while banks’ interbank borrowing limits were increased tenfold. The SPK also temporarily eased margin-trading requirements.

The liquidation process itself is unusually significant. Under the SPK’s framework, two banks have been appointed as custodians and will conduct the wind-down process. Portfolio assets are to be converted into cash while taking account of market depth and liquidity conditions, with proceeds distributed to investors according to their holdings. The liquidation period is expected to run for up to three months, although the regulator can extend it.

That structure makes the coming weeks important for investors. The key question is how much cash can be realized from underlying assets without triggering another destabilizing wave of selling.

The episode also points to weaknesses that existed before the latest panic.

Turkey has hundreds of listed companies, but relatively few have the size and free float needed to absorb substantial institutional investment. Many large businesses remain closely controlled by founding families or have limited shares available for public trading. That can leave funds concentrated in a relatively narrow group of stocks and make prices more sensitive to changes in fund positioning.

Regulatory changes introduced in late August added another source of pressure. The SPK imposed limits on funds’ exposure to illiquid stocks, with limits of between 2% and 8% being phased in over the coming months. Analysts told Reuters that the rules forced some funds to reassess concentrated positions and liquidity requirements, contributing to selling pressure before the wider market decline.

The investigation into trading in three companies has added a separate dimension to the crisis.

The SPK filed criminal complaints involving transactions in Katilimevim, Gundogdu Gida and Destek Finans Faktoring. Reuters reported that the regulator had referred 38 people to prosecutors over alleged market manipulation and imposed two-year trading bans on them. Pusula Portfoy, a fund manager linked to Katilimevim, was also barred from trading the shares on its own account for two years.

Turkish media reported that five people detained in recent days appeared in court on Wednesday and were jailed pending trial. The Justice Ministry said individuals face charges including violations of the capital markets law, membership of a criminal organization and aggravated fraud allegedly committed by company executives or others acting on behalf of a company during commercial activities.

Those are allegations rather than findings of guilt, and the criminal proceedings will determine whether the suspected conduct occurred.

The connection between the trading investigation and the fund-liquidity crisis is nevertheless significant for market confidence. The three companies under investigation had experienced exceptionally strong share-price gains before the recent selloff. Reuters reported that Katilimevim and Destek Finans remained more than 300% higher for the year even after their recent declines, while Gundogdu Gida was still up more than 140%.

That gap between headline valuations and the ability to transact in size is at the heart of the problem. A quoted market price does not necessarily mean that a large portfolio can be liquidated at that price. When free float is limited and trading becomes one-sided, the executable value of an asset can fall substantially below its previous marked value.

The episode is also occurring at a sensitive time for Turkey’s efforts to deepen its capital markets and attract international investment. MSCI has previously raised concerns about possible coordinated trading involving fund holdings and smaller Turkish-listed companies and has indicated that regulatory progress could affect Turkey’s status in its equity indexes.

For the government, containing the immediate liquidity shock is only the first task. The more difficult issue is restoring confidence in valuation, governance, liquidity management and the ability of investment funds to honor redemption obligations under stressed conditions.

The nearly 500,000 investors now caught up in the liquidation process make that challenge considerably more consequential than a problem confined to a handful of fund managers.

Microsoft is cutting another 500 jobs, with most of the reductions coming from Xbox, as the company pushes deeper into a restructuring of its gaming business following years of expansion and acquisitions.

The latest cuts, announced Tuesday, include 268 roles across Halo Studios, other first-party studios and Xbox Game Studios’ management and central functions, according to a memo from Xbox executive Matt Booty. A smaller number of positions are also being eliminated in other Microsoft businesses, including Cloud + AI.

The reductions come just two months after Microsoft announced plans to cut about 4,800 jobs, or 2.1% of its global workforce, in July. Within gaming, Microsoft is working through a broader plan to reduce Xbox’s workforce by roughly 20% by the end of its fiscal year while consolidating studios, reshaping management and deciding which businesses and properties it should continue to own.

Booty said the latest actions, combined with studio divestitures completed since July, mean Xbox is about three-quarters of the way through the restructuring previously announced.

The scale of the changes shows that Microsoft’s gaming reset is not simply a conventional cost-cutting exercise. The company is reorganizing how its studios operate, shifting responsibilities among major publishing groups and reducing the number of separate business units.

“First, we are eliminating 268 roles across Halo Studios, other first-party studios, and the XGS management and central functions layer,” Booty wrote in the memo. “The actions completed since July, inclusive of the studio divestitures, bring us roughly three-quarters of the way through previously announced restructuring.”

Xbox Consolidates Its Studios

The restructuring will give several of Microsoft’s largest gaming organizations broader responsibilities.

Activision will expand its remit to include World’s Edge and Rare. It will also take responsibility for developing the next Halo game through a new purpose-built team separate from the teams working on Call of Duty.

Halo Studios will retain a smaller team responsible for supporting the existing Halo community and games already on the market.

Bethesda will expand its responsibilities to include Obsidian, which will continue work on existing projects including Grounded and a new Fallout project being developed in collaboration with Bethesda Game Studios.

King, Microsoft’s mobile gaming business, will take responsibility for Microsoft Casual Games, combining two organizations focused on casual games and live operations.

Playground and Turn 10 will also be combined into a single studio focused on the Forza and Fable franchises.

The changes effectively reduce organizational complexity across Xbox’s first-party portfolio. Rather than maintaining a large number of separately managed studios, Microsoft is grouping teams around franchises and publishing capabilities. That could make the gaming division easier to manage, but it also represents a significant reversal from Microsoft’s acquisition-driven expansion of the past several years.

Microsoft spent tens of billions of dollars building its gaming portfolio, including the acquisitions of Bethesda parent ZeniMax Media and Activision Blizzard. Those deals gave Xbox an enormous collection of franchises and studios, but they also created a much larger and more complicated organization.

The current restructuring suggests Microsoft is now placing greater emphasis on extracting value from those assets rather than continuing to expand the portfolio at the same pace.

Divestitures Reshape Microsoft’s Gaming Footprint

The restructuring also includes the sale or separation of several studios.

In August, Compulsion Games and Double Fine returned to management with their intellectual property, back catalogs, and funding. Undead Labs has now completed a similar transition and will release State of Decay 3 day one on Game Pass through a new publisher.

Other studio changes are less certain.

Two separate agreements involving Ninja Theory fell through, according to Booty. Microsoft will begin consultations with employees over a proposed closure while continuing to explore alternatives.

Consultations involving Arkane are also continuing and are expected to run through the end of the year.

The decisions highlight the difficult economics of maintaining large game-development organizations. Major titles can require years of development and hundreds of employees, while unsuccessful projects can leave publishers carrying substantial costs without a predictable return. At the same time, Microsoft’s Game Pass strategy creates a different challenge. The company has increasingly emphasized subscription access to its games, which can broaden audiences but changes how Microsoft monetizes individual releases.

The restructuring appears designed in part to concentrate resources around franchises with established audiences while reducing duplication between studios and management structures.

AI Spending And Broader Microsoft Cuts

The Xbox reductions are occurring alongside broader workforce adjustments at Microsoft as the company continues shifting resources toward artificial intelligence and cloud infrastructure.

Although only a small portion of the latest cuts outside gaming affect Cloud + AI, the broader pattern illustrates the competing priorities facing Microsoft. The company is spending heavily on AI infrastructure, data centers, and model development while simultaneously looking for efficiencies across more mature businesses.

That does not mean the Xbox cuts are simply funding AI investment. The gaming division has its own operational pressures, and Microsoft’s memo focuses primarily on studio consolidation and restructuring. But the contrast is significant: Microsoft is simultaneously increasing investment in emerging AI capabilities while reducing headcount and organizational complexity elsewhere.

The company’s July layoffs affected thousands of employees across its global operations, and the latest Xbox cuts demonstrate that the restructuring is continuing beyond that initial round.

For Xbox, the immediate objective is to complete the reset while maintaining what Booty described as a strong upcoming game pipeline. He said the company would use an October 6 town hall to bring the broader Xbox organization together to review the restructuring and look ahead to its upcoming releases.

The outcome of the reset will ultimately be measured less by the number of positions eliminated than by whether Microsoft can produce major games more efficiently and turn its enormous portfolio of franchises into stronger returns.

The company now has fewer organizational layers, fewer independently managed studios and a clearer concentration of responsibilities across its major gaming groups. The trade-off is that the restructuring comes with further job losses and the closure or separation of studios that were previously part of Microsoft’s expanded first-party strategy.