Virtually all of the new activities undertaken by FHCs have been in insurance sales and merchant banking. In addition, most of the previous section 20 subsidiaries have converted to traditional securities underwriting and dealing subsidiaries of FHCs.
Shortly thereafter, was the global financial crisis from 2007, in the advanced economies, predicated on excessive risk taking and the trend at that time of deregulation. Africa was largely spared the direct effects of this crisis given its relatively limited linkages to global financial markets at that time.