THURSDAY, 11.30AM
CENTRAL bank governors of Southern African Development Community member states are working to develop a database of monetary and financial statistics for publication on the internet, according to SA Reserve Bank deputy governor Timothy Tahane.
Tahane said the project is one of several being pursued jointly by the 12 SADC members in a bid to improve regional ties.
Another area of co-operations, said Tahane, is the development of clearing, settlement and payment systems. Payment systems are being developed on a national level to be compatible for relatively easy future integration. For example, SA has just announced plans for the launch early next year of a new real time settlement that allows intraday settlement between banks. “Other SADC central banks are moving in the same direction with their own systems,” said Tahane.
BUSINESS BRIEFS
AIRPORTS ADVISER SBC Warburg, in partnership with Gobodo Incorporated, Standard Corporate and Mechant Bank in partnership with Morgan Stanley, Co-ordinated Management Consulting, and Deutsche Morgan Grenfell were shortlisted for the position of adviser in the restructuring of parastatal Airports Company. The candidates will be interviewed by the restructuring committee on July 25 and the results will be announced shortly afterwards.
JSE RECORD HIGH THE JSE all-share index closed at a record high of 7422,80 points, up 32,10 points and beating the July 1 record of 7420. Both the financial and industrial index also closed at new highs, with financials up 75,80 to 10321,90 and industrial up 50,70 to 8936,40. Only gold shares were down, by 7,1 points.
STALS TO BORROW US$1,5bn RESERVE BANK governor Chris Stals announced yesterday that he will sign a US$1,5bn loan agreement with a syndicate of 30 foreign banking institutions next week in London. He said he believed it was in the interests of the economy to make use of foreign loans to increase socio-economic development.
DE BEERS IN GUINEA DE BEERS has announced a new agreement with the government of Guinea, giving it the right to mine for gems in new fields it discovers. De Beers has operated two offices in Guinea since 1995, and has also been prospecting for kimberlites.
STANDARD TO BUY UK FIRM STANDARD BANK of South Africa says it is poised to buy an unnamed British finance house for between R20-million and R30-million.