Explore the Category

Rand firmer, financial sector weighs on JSE

02 February 2018

The South African rand has been increasingly sensitive to domestic politics over the past decade. It fell to its weakest point in December 2015, to 16 to the USD, when President Zuma reshuffled finance ministers. And it jumped sharply late last year when businessman Cyril Ramaphosa was voted head of the ANC, putting him in pole position to succeed Zuma as president. Since then there has been speculation that Zuma may step down early, and Ramaphosa has presented an optimistic vision of South Africa for investors at Davos. Both of which have further boosted the currency, which rose to below 12 to the USD.

Optimism fuels the SA delegation to Davos

22 January 2018

From tomorrow, the worlds eyes will once again turn towards that small town in Switzerland called Davos where the World Economic Forum (WEF) will be holding their annual meeting.

MPC leaves rates unchanged - worried about Moody's downgrade?

19 January 2018

Given the SARB MPC’s historical hawkish bias, it was not surprising that they kept interest rates on hold at the January MPC meeting. What did come as a surprise was the fact that five members of the committee supported the decision, and only one voted to cut rates. The SARB clearly remains very concerned about the fiscal outlook. For five MPC members to vote to keep rates on hold in the face of the dramatic improvement in the inflation outlook indicates that they see real risks to the forecast. One conclusion one could draw would be that they are worrying about Moody’s downgrading in February, and would not want to cut ahead of that decision.

Outlook 2018: Global economy

08 January 2018

The world economy is enjoying a synchronised upswing, in which most regions are generating good growth despite political upsets in some parts of the world. As a result, Schroders, a global asset manager, has upgraded their global growth forecast for 2018 to 3.3% from a previous estimate of 3.0%. This marks a modest acceleration from 2017, which is also upgraded to 3.2% from 3%. If correct, this would make 2018 the strongest year for global growth since 2011.

quick poll

Question

The strongest deterrent against FSP compliance missteps is or should be:

Answer

A criminal conviction Debarment Fine or penalty Any of the above can work

View the Results