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South Africa
and the Region: Economic
Policy, Financial System, Financial Institutions, Investment, Markets and Regulation
The Guide
to the Southern African Financial Services Industry
FSF
brings you information
on financial services, economic policy, financial
institutions, financial markets, financial regulation and payment systems in South Africa and
elsewhere.
FSF also provides a directory to
relevant Web sites, and through the selected links,
reduces your search time.
See What's
New, below - scroll down
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Keep Abreast of ...
It’s
not over until it’s in the rules
Sunday, 29 August 2010
Having passed the Dodd-Frank Act earlier this
summer, the bill that aspires to reorder our financial universe in the
wake of the most serious economic crisis in generations, Congress has
moved on to other matters. Regulators are left to write the rules that
will make financial reform a reality — or not — and are beginning
that laborious process.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is one
regulator with a lot on its plate. Last month, the commission
published a list of 30 areas related to over-the-counter derivatives
that require new rules. Derivatives, you might remember, are the
exotic securities that Wall Street engineered to hedge risk, only to
discover during the mortgage meltdown that the contracts — which
linked together a dizzying number of financial players — actually
amplified the severity of the crisis.
On Aug. 20, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission
and the Securities and Exchange Commission sponsored an open forum on
derivatives regulation. Industry representatives, trade groups,
investor advocates and regulators discussed how to put into practice
Congress’s desire for a more closely supervised market in
derivatives.
Because the most potentially nuclear forms of
derivatives are privately arranged and loosely monitored, two clear
goals of the legislation are greater price transparency and the
opening of transactions to more market participants. ...
Continue reading on the Financial
Regulation Forum
See previous
briefings (last: New bank capital rules will eventually foster
growth) in the Briefings
section of the Financial Regulation
Forum
Keep Abreast of ...
is inspired by Teaching
Sells and hosted in
the US by Bluehost
__________
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Topical
 | Financial
institutional structure
Following recent statements by the ANC and its
Alliance partners, we wish to facilitate discussion on the South
African financial system and its institutional infrastructure -
Treasury; Reserve Bank; Financial Services Board; banks, etc.;
monetary policy; regulation; stability; payment systems; and
nationalisation. |
| The
Devil’s Casino: Friendship, Betrayal and the High Stakes Games
Played Inside Lehman Brothers, by Vicky Ward
They were the Rat Pack of Wall Street. Four close
friends: one a decorated war hero, one an emotional hippie, and two
regular guys with big hearts, big dreams, and noble aims. They were
going to get rich on Wall Street. They were going to prove that men
like them ? with zero financial training - could more than equal the
Ivy-League-educated white shoe bankers who were the competition. They
were going to create an institution for men like them -- men who were
hungry and untrained ? and they were going to win, but not at the cost
of their souls. In short, they were going to be the good guys of
finance. |
| Financial news from South
African online news publications. |
| The
price of freedom
An Economist special report on South Africa. Since embracing full
democracy 16 years ago, South Africa has made huge strides. But,
says Diana Geddes, not everything has changed for the better.
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| The Economist's Big
Mac index seeks to make exchange-rate theory more
digestible. It is arguably the world's most accurate financial
indicator to be based on a fast-food item. |
| Property analyses are in the Assets
and investments section |
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Convert from South African Rand (or any other currency) to
any other currency.
Includes all African currencies. Historical exchange rates also
available in tabular format.
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What's new
September 2010
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
| Standard
Bank's Tanzania:
Annual Economic Outlook 
(PDF) is available, it is
indexed in The
Africa region section. |
| The SA Reserve Bank releases the Bank Supervision, 2009 Annual Report, it is
indexed in the Regulation
& legislation section. |
| Standard
Bank's Angola:
Annual Economic Outlook
(PDF) is available, it is
indexed in The
Africa region section. |
| The SA Reserve
Bank has released it biannual Monetary Policy Review,
it is indexed in the System
& markets section. |
| Have
your say on the South African Reserve Bank Amendment Bill.
The Standing Committee on Finance invites shareholders and
interested parties to submit written submissions on the South
African Reserve Bank Amendment Bill [B10-2010]. |
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The [SA] Monetary Policy Committee decided to
leave the repo rate unchanged at 6,5 per cent per
year, see the latest
Statement
of the Monetary Policy Committee available from the Reserve
Bank,
it is indexed in the System
& markets section. Next meeting on 21 & 22 July 2010. |
| Marcus
calls for SARB amendment bill to be fast-tracked.
Following Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s comments last week
that the government is to amend the country’s Reserve Bank Act,
SARB Governor Gill Marcus yesterday urged the country’s
Parliament to “fast track” the South African Reserve Bank
Amendment Bill. |
| Standard
Bank's Swaziland:
Annual Economic Outlook
(PDF) is available, it is
indexed in The
Africa region section. |
| An updated Standard Bank Residential
Property Gauge
is available
(PDF), it is indexed in the
Assets
& investments section. |
| The Standard
Bank provides an Africa
Snapshot, it is
indexed in The
Africa region section. |
| The second quarter Absa Housing
Review is available
(PDF), it is indexed in the Assets
& investments section. |
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Choice,
not fate the life and times of Trevor Manuel: Biography of Trevor
Manuel,
Pippa Green
Trevor Manuel has been South African Minister of
Finance since June 1996. He was born in Cape Town in January 1956 the
son of an employee of the Cape Town City Council. He was involved in
the founding of the UDF in the Western Cape and subsequently became
the regional secretary of the United Democratic Front (UDF). Between
1985-1990 he was repeatedly detained without trial or placed under
house arrest, spending a total of 35 months in detention. In 1992
Manuel became head of the ANC's Department of Economic Planning. After
the April 1994 elections Manuel was appointed Minister of Trade
Industry and in March 1996 he was appointed Minister of Finance
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