Over the next few months, South African banks will begin to replace plain, magnetic-stripe credit cards with chip-enabled smart cards. The exact timing of the launch is still up in the air as the banks sort out last-minute details and technologies, but Absa and Standard Bank appear to be the front-runners.
Bank fees, we are told by a recent voluminous report for the Competition Commission, have little to do with costs. They also appear to have little to do with service, as you can pay a lot or almost nothing for exactly the same facility. Most consumers know that shopping around for the most competitive home loan can lead to substantial savings.
Ten-year-old Hossam Abu Hashish smiles proudly as he lays out a pile of rusted steel shrapnel on the floor of his single-room home in northern Gaza. "I have a good collection," he says. "But it’s not the best in the village. My uncle’s is bigger."
He holds up a piece of twisted metal the length of his forearm. It has edges sharp enough to cut glass.
New best life fire passion Fiat … I’m sorry. This isn’t really working, is it? It’s just that, having driven the new Fiat Grande Punto at the launch, I returned to my office and opened the press pack to see if I’d missed anything during my 600km on the road, only to be assaulted by a 36-page press release, loaded to the gunwales with no less than 11 885 words, writes Gavin Foster.
South African financial institutions could learn a thing or two from innovations abroad that provide for retirement. Many people consider their homes, which they intend to sell on retirement, as their pension. The problem is that downsizing does not necessarily save money as townhouses, clusters or retirement villages often carry a premium price.
Before using a financial adviser, it is worth checking if he or she has been ”S-referenced” by the Life Office’s Association (LOA). The system aims to protect consumers from advisers who are considered unfit to be marketing the products of the long-term-insurance industry. The system is one of self-regulation operated by the LOA.
To many he is the greatest scientist who ever lived, but a unique collection of Albert Einstein’s letters and papers has revealed a history of struggle and failure made worse by an apparently shaky grasp of maths. An archive, shows how after securing unprecedented celebrity status with his general theory of relativity in 1916, Einstein suffered years of frustration as he failed to top that with ”a grand theory of everything”.
It was just the sort of message British Finance Minister Gordon Brown wanted to see. As he arrived at the Hilton in the Nigerian capital of Abuja this week to warn Africa that stamping out corruption was the flipside of greater financial generosity from the West, the TV monitor behind the reception desk said: ”Important notice. Anti-money-laundering measures are observed in this hotel.”
The government’s Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa differs from its two predecessors, the growth, employment and redistribution strategy and the Reconstruction and Development Programme, in its strong emphasis on defined and specific growth-enhancing projects. These include the delivery of physical infrastructure and a detailed programme for the provision of skills.
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African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma left the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting at Esselen Park before its conclusion Saturday, but there were conflicting reports on why he did so, City Press reported on Sunday.