Many card issuers offer the budget facility as a vehicle for card holders to consolidate their existing debt and — in return — they offer customers an incentive in the pricing, in the form of preferential interest rates.
The rising popularity of debit cards complements the traditional credit card market.
Credit card initiatives and product innovations — many related to pricing — are about to be spawned in the marketplace as a direct result of the challenges the National Credit Act (NCA) originally posed to the banking fraternity.
The South African credit card industry is bracing itself for a new round of innovation and competition.
The provision in the National Credit Act to assist overindebted people to restructure their debt through debt counselling was not designed as a punitive measure — nor as a measure to enable debt-stressed people to borrow more money to pay off debt.
The commercial and wholesale banking arena differs from conventional retail banking, given the complexity and sophistication of business banking products and offerings in this highly specialised market segment. Oscar Grobler, of Absa Corporate Business Bank, says banks have struggled to define how they should segment their business banking offering.
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/ 19 September 2007
The importance of keeping accurate short-term sick leave (STSL) statistics is becoming increasingly apparent to South African companies. And, for the first time, the South African market is able to assess STSL data that allows it to benchmark these statistics objectively against local norms.
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/ 19 September 2007
When you are on the seashore in distress and help is needed fast, dialling 082 911 will unleash a well-oiled rescue machine in the form of Netcare 911 paramedics, the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) and Surf Lifesaving SA. Should the distress call come over a weekend or the summer holidays, the chances are that help will arrive by air — a Vodacom Netcare 911 sea rescue helicopter.
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/ 19 September 2007
Keeping young hearts beating — that’s the mission of the Heart and Stroke Foundation South Africa’s Children’s Programme, a community-based empowerment project that teaches healthy habits from a young age. With the help of sponsorship from Lucky Star, the foundation has been able to extend its reach beyond the metropolitan precincts and into the rural areas.
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/ 19 September 2007
One in every 100 children suffers from congenital heart defects – and as many as 95% of these can be treated through surgery, enabling them to go on to live normal lives. But without treatment, these children die within weeks. Less than 30% of indigent South African children and 1% of children in the rest of the continent can afford the treatment they need.