Economy
Are the first green shoots appearing for South Africa?
South Africa’s economic environment is awash with grim news – from disastrous growth of -3.2% in Q1 2019 to and unemployment rate north of 27% – but could there be the initial hint of good news on the horizon?
Financial Services
Investigating Insurance Indemnities
The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in South Africa, in Centriq Insurance Company Limited v Oosthuizen and another, was tasked with considering the correct interpretation of an exclusion of liability clause contained in a professional indemnity insurance contract.
Fintech
Keep an open mind and an ear to the ground
The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) continues to shape our conversations and considerations around how we might need to adapt, or what skills will be needed to sustain the workplace of the future. The 4IR brings with it fast-paced change and a digital shift unlike any other.
Instruments & Investments
What SA investors can learn from the case of Greek government bonds
Ten-year Greek government bonds – deemed ‘uninvestable’ at the height of the eurozone crisis – are currently yielding 2.2%. What makes this remarkable is firstly that yields in Greece are now only slightly higher than those in the US, meaning investors effectively require the same compensation to lend to the Greek and US governments.
International
African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement operational phase launched in Niger
The operational phase of the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement (AfCFTA) was officially launched at the African Union (AU) summit in Niger in early July.
Markets
The Difficulty in Predicting Optimal Regulation 28 Compliant Portfolios: Explained with the Benefit...
Due to the extreme uncertainty in the estimation of future expected returns on virtually all asset classes, portfolio managers are confronted with a virtually impossible task to construct optimal portfolios that will meet a return target; moreover, when the absolute value of this future return target is also uncertain, e.g. a CPI-linked benchmark.
Personal Finance
Setting it Off
For many years, it has been a common practice for both banks and other financial institutions (both referred to as Credit Providers), to exercise their common law rights of set-off in instances where a Credit Provider is both owing a debt to an individual and is owed a debt by the same individual.