The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Lamido Sanusi, will on Tuesday, in South Africa, brief the international financial community on recent developments in the Nigerian financial sector.

According to a statement by Mr. Erik Larson, Head, Media Relations, Standard Bank Group, parent company of Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, Lamido is expected to provide participants and investors at the conference with updates on the reforms in Nigeria's banking sector in a key note address to be delivered in the Standard Bank Africa Forum 2009 conference in Cape Town, South Africa, which is scheduled to hold from October 27 to October 29, 2009.

He disclosed that in addition to the CBN Governor, other policy makers from South Africa and throughout the rest of Africa will also be present to address delegates on issues and initiatives surrounding policy in their countries.

The conference, which takes place at the Cape International Convention Centre, is aimed at bringing together captains of industry from around the world in the core sectors of oil and gas, telecommunications and media, power and infrastructure, and mining and metals, to engage with each other, African policy makers and potential investors, on opportunities in the African continent.

According to Larson, as Standard Bank's flagship conference, the event typically hosts over 200 delegates, noting that past prominent speakers have included former US President Bill Clinton, former Treasury Secretary John Snow, former Governor of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan, former World Bank President James Wolfensohn, former Deputy President of the United States Al Gore and other financial commentators.

He said, "'Prospects for Africa in the post crisis environment', 'Connecting Africa to the world', 'The role of Developmental Financial Institutions' and 'Community banking' are some of the key themes that will be explored at the forum."

He further stated that this year's format will be more comprehensive than ever before, as a number of sessions will focus on addressing the world economic situation, and how that relates to the likely outlook for emerging markets, using prominent commentators and experts.

Larson quoted Mr. Brad Koen, Managing Director and Global Head - Client Coverage & Investment Banking, Standard Bank as saying, "The 2009 Standard Bank African Forum, previously known as the Standard Bank Emerging Financial Markets Conference, is the 13th annual conference of its kind and is themed specifically around Africa due to the growing importance of the continent as an investment destination, and Standard Bank's African heritage, with a history of over 147 years.

"The focus on Africa will be further concentrated on the sectors that we believe will be the most important drivers for growth over the next decade, namely oil, gas and renewables; power and infrastructure; mining and metals; telecommunications and media; and local markets."