Sam Sithole, a non-executive director at African Bank Investments Limited (Abil) has taken an effective R4.8m bet on the embattled lender after the share plummeted yesterday following a negative trading update.
Announcement: FSB initiates regulatory action against Old Mutual
May 21, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The Registrar of Long-term Insurance has initiated regulatory action against Old Mutual Life Assurance Company of South Africa (“Old Mutual”) for non-compliance with Directive 159.A.i (LT & ST). The Directive sets out the requirements that insurers must comply with when outsourcing an aspect of their insurance business to another person.
Cut cellphone costs
May 21, 2013 by Leave a Comment
For a while it’s been interesting to watch how this played out, even more so now that my mobile contract has come up for renewal and I’ve had a bit of time to consider my options and do some maths. The results have shown some pretty major cost savings that may easily apply to you
It pays to be an optimist
May 21, 2013 by Leave a Comment
After years of advising wealthy individuals, I have always been surprised by how much more positive my wealthier clients are than those who are of average or below-average wealth. I used to attribute their positive outlook to the fact that they had money to solve any potential problems but as I got to find out more about these clients, I realised I was wrong.
Are we desensitised to unemployment statistics?
May 21, 2013 by 1 Comment
Stats SA’s most recent unemployment numbers announced early in May showed 4,6m people in South Africa are currently unemployed. Between the fourth quarter of 2012 and the first quarter of 2013, 100 000 more people have lost their jobs, which brings our official unemployment rate to 25,2%.
Johann Rupert on analysts, corporate governance and fly-fishing
May 21, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Luxury goods group Richemont recently delivered a solid set of financial results for the year ended 31 March 2013. Chairperson Johann Rupert remains one of the most powerful and captivating business speakers around and one of the analysts at Investec forwarded us this note of some comments Rupert made to the analyst community recently:
Government’s ‘name dropping’ proposal trivialises a major administrative breakdown
May 20, 2013 by Leave a Comment
We have to ask how it is that the Gupta name resonates so loud. Is it not because of their highly publicised relationship with the family of the President? It is not because their name does not already and on a regular basis open the door to extraordinary privilege? Are there other business people whose name secures similarly privileged access to public resources?
Is winning always worth it?
May 20, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Although winning in business is important, it’s how we win that matters. Winning the goodwill of customers by giving them better service or a better product is much more critical. Winning should not be about making more money. It’s about doing the best that you can AND doing what’s in the long-term best interests of all your stakeholders, be they customers, your staff or the environment. We should demand this much from companies’ leaders and their boards
Explosive unsecured lending growth
May 20, 2013 by Leave a Comment
South African financial markets have been rocked this morning by a 20% decline in the share price of African Bank Investments Limited (Abil). The banking group had fallen sharply after the release of interim financial results for the six months ended 31 March 2013. While various social media and news channels have been absorbed with the sharp decline in the Abil shareprice, the folks at ETM Analytics managed to pull together the attached graph showing just how unsecured lending had ballooned in South Africa over the last few years.
Government not the only spanner in small business wheel
May 20, 2013 by Leave a Comment
While a lack of funding, skills shortage and red tape make it very difficult for local small businesses to thrive, Avocado Vision CEO Jules Newton identifies another obstacle that cripples small businesses: slack payment. In this opinion piece she explains how late payments affect small business and how you can help.
