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Offshore investing – maximising opportunity, minimising taxation

28 July 2015 | General

South Africans can be excused for dismissing the idea of offshore investing. After all – not only does the offshore investment universe offer a seemingly overwhelming amount of products, asset classes and service providers to choose from – but it also hasn’t come close to generating the kind of returns that we have seen at home over the last 15 years.

The upside of rising interest rates

27 July 2015 | General

Every decision on interest rates results in conflicting views. A rate hike is regularly met with criticism by those who are concerned about debt management while a reduction equally faces disapproval by those who monitor the local currency and inflation.

The rise of the Renminbi: Will China’s Yuan become a global reserve currency?

27 July 2015 | Economy

In recent months, China has stepped up a longstanding campaign for its currency (officially called the renminbi [RMB] but also referred to as the yuan), to be included as a part of the composition of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF’s) Special Drawing Rights (SDR). While the media is abuzz with the potential market implications of China’s currency achieving status as an international reserve currency—one which can be held by central banks and other major financial institutions to pay off international debt obligations—at one level, the issue is somewhat arcane. SDRs are a synthetic quasi-currency made up of a basket of widely traded currencies. They are used by the IMF for accounting purposes and as a medium for allocating assets among member countries. They play almost no role in private trade and finance. They do, however, provide the IMF’s approval that a currency has the qualities necessary to be an international reserve currency. Indeed, SDR currencies are automatically regarded as acceptable reserve currencies, whereas other currencies have to meet criteria for full convertibility to have the same status.