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Mixed signals from financial markets

15 August 2016 | General

It was undoubtedly a surprise when 52% of the British electorate voted to leave the European Union. The immediate reaction of international investors was flight into safe haven assets – US and German government bonds – and a sell-off in equities and property. Investor reaction reflected a view that the British electorate favoured a path of change and this change is associated with uncertainty, which will undoubtedly drive volatile market behavior.

SA private equity continues its steady performance

15 August 2016 | Equities

The latest RisCura-SAVCA South African Private Equity Performance Report, for the first quarter of 2016, shows that the South African private equity industry remains resilient, delivering a ten-year internal rate of return (IRR*) of 19% at the end 31 March 2016, up from 18.5% reported in the previous quarter (end of 31 December 2015).

Market update: July 2016 - SA economy remained glum

12 August 2016 | Economy

The outlook for the South African economy remained glum during the month of July. The most worrying data came from the SA Reserve Bank (SARB), as it revised its growth forecast for 2016 down to 0%. Needless to say, this is much less than the country needs to alleviate persistent unemployment and deflect a downgrade by ratings agencies. Fitch followed the same logic and promptly downgraded its SA local-currency debt rating to bring it in line with its foreign-currency rating – one notch above junk. With this no- to negative-growth outlook, the SARB decided to keep rates on hold despite PPI printing at 6.8% year-on-year for June and CPI at 6.3%, breaching the SARB’s upper limit.

What is Brexit?

11 August 2016 | Economy

Brexit is just a shorthand way of referring to the British exit from the EU. It is a word that owes something to the term “Grexit”, which has been used for several years to refer to the possibility that Greece might leave the Eurozone and now has been adopted and will probably end up in Webster's dictionary.

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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

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