Home to the world’s 19th-largest exchange, South Africa has mature capital markets able to serve not only the domestic economy but also the wider continent. As global risk appetite for emerging market equities returned from mid-September 2012 following concerted interventions by the world’s central banks, South African equities rallied sharply. Bonds also did well in 2012, despite sovereign...
South Africa Financial Services
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Chapter | Capital Markets from The Report: South Africa 2013
Competition in South Africa’s highly concentrated banking sector has led to it having the highest penetration rates – both in terms of credit to GDP and banked customers – of any African country. The sector had recovered from the effects of the global financial crisis on the real economy by the start of 2012, but significant uncertainties remain, stemming mainly from the flat growth outlook in...
With a long-established track record as the continent’s largest financial platform and one of the world’s biggest mining producers, South Africa has significant economic clout in the region.
An overhaul of South Africa’s financial regulations, already considered some of the most robust worldwide, is likely to result in a shake up for the insurance sector. While the new system will strengthen oversight and boost transparency, it is also expected to push up the cost of compliance, which in turn could lead to industry consolidation.
Bankers have been quick to downplay weak results from one of South Africa’s largest providers of unsecured loans, saying the decline in profits at African Bank Investments Limited (ABIL) does not portend more wide-spread problems in the sector.
Economic update | South Africa: Troubled lending
21 Dec 2012
Unsecured lending is on the rise in South Africa, sparking debate over whether the growth rate in this loan category should be reined in to avoid a potential credit bubble and protect vulnerable consumers from entering into a cycle of over-indebtedness.