New regulations for cryptocurrency exchanges could boost investor confidence in such assets
Corporations and banks that aided the apartheid regime have not been brought to book, so they continue to act with impunity
Banks argue the Competition Tribunal has no power to call out foreign firms on cartel conduct
The financial sector must recognise that including environmental, social and governance concerns in its allocation decisions can be good for business
Bank executives have warned that weakening sentiment amid a lengthening US government shutdown could economic kill growth
It appears US banks lost $1-billion when they loaned to the tycoon who used his Steinhoff shares as collateral
Online chat rooms were key to the way in which traders colluded to maximise profits.
The Federal Reserve’s decision to hold on tapering plans will see happy days for emerging markets once again as JPMorgan upgrades its equities.
Greedy for large profits, JP Morgan laid itself open and a single trader cost it $5.8-billion. Eleni Giokos reports.
Where is all the money coming from to build dirty coal-powered energy plants?
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/ 4 September 2008
Taking too conservative an investment approach can reduce your nest egg.
Bharti Airtel, India’s leading mobile operator, may seek a merger or share swap with MTN Group to try to avoid a bidding war for the South African phone firm, analysts and media reports say. A successful deal would be India’s biggest foreign acquisition and create the world’s sixth-largest mobile operator.
Gold Fields, the world’s number four gold producer, posted a 67% rise in quarterly headline earnings on the back of soaring prices for the metal, but production fell on South Africa’s power crunch. Gold Fields said on Friday its adjusted headline earnings per share for the third quarter to the end of March rose to 155 cents from 93 cents in the second quarter.
Former British prime minister Tony Blair was left red-faced when he was caught travelling on a train without a ticket and said he had no cash to pay the fare, a report said on Wednesday. Blair was confronted by a ticket inspector as he travelled to Heathrow airport to catch a flight to the United States on Monday.
The JSE remained firm by midday on Tuesday as overnight gains in the United States triggered good buying interest among global equities. By noon, the JSE’s broader all-share index was up 2,22%. Banks gained 3,1% and financials lifted 3,06%.
Global stocks fell and the dollar tumbled on Monday as a fire sale of Bear Stearns and an emergency Federal Reserve cut of a key lending rate sparked fears that a worldwide credit crisis will claim more casualties. European shares sank more than 3%, following a sell-off in Asia where Japan’s leading indexes shed more than 3,5%.
JP Morgan Chase set a deal to buy stricken rival Bear Stearns for a rock-bottom price, while the United States Federal Reserve expanded lending to securities firms for the first time since the Great Depression to prop up the financial system. The shock news, the biggest sign yet of how devastating the credit crisis is for Wall Street, slammed the US dollar to a record low against the euro,
The global credit crunch claimed its biggest victim yet on Friday when the United States Federal Reserve orchestrated an emergency bail-out for Bear Stearns after a cash crisis prompted a run on the US’s fifth-biggest investment bank. President George Bush sought to calm fears of a deep recession in the world’s biggest economy.
An affiliate of United States-based buyout firm Carlyle Group has defaulted on about ,6-billion of debt and expects its lenders to seize remaining assets as the global credit crunch tightens around leveraged investors. A ”successful refinancing is not possible,” Carlyle Capital said.
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/ 18 February 2008
Investors cheered an impending end to a format war for next-generation DVDs on Monday, pushing up shares of both Toshiba, on the verge of abandoning its HD DVD discs, and Sony, the leader of the rival Blu-ray camp. Toshiba shares jumped 5,1% as analysts praised its decision to cut its losses.
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/ 5 February 2008
Société Générale was braced for fresh criticism from France’s top central banker on Tuesday as the man the bank blames for its record trading losses spoke out against his former employer. Jerome Kerviel (31) is under police investigation and said that he would not be turned into a ”scapegoat”.
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/ 19 December 2007
Gold is on course to close 2007 at least $100 higher, setting the yellow metal up for its seventh consecutive year of gains in 2008. An ounce of gold cost $629,80 at the start of 2007 and was trading close to $800 an ounce by mid-December after touching $841,10 in November –- its highest level since 1980.
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/ 19 November 2007
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The battle to lead the ruling African National Congress (ANC) has boiled down to President Thabo Mbeki and his former deputy, Jacob Zuma, in a clash that has shaken the party to its core. There are no signs that an economic boom will end anytime soon but millions of South Africans mired in poverty are waiting for the ANC to ease their hardships.
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/ 8 November 2007
Oil recouped early losses to resume its march towards the -milestone on Thursday as resurfacing worries of tight winter supplies and continuing dollar weakness put the brakes on some early profit-taking. By 12.57pm GMT, United States crude for December delivery stood 57 cents up at ,94.
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/ 25 October 2007
China’s biggest lender ICBC is to buy 20% of South Africa’s Standard Bank for R36,67-billion (,6-billion) in cash, in the biggest foreign investment yet in Africa. The move announced on Thursday comes as Beijing encourages major state firms to expand abroad, particularly in developing countries.
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/ 24 September 2007
Australia’s drought could cut the 2008 wine grape vintage by more than half, industry groups said, cutting into a A-billion a year export business. The 2008 vintage is likely to fall to between 800 000 tonnes and 1,3-million tonnes, compared with a normal seasonal crop of about 1,9-million tonnes.
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/ 4 September 2007
Gaz de France and Suez on Monday agreed to create the world’s third-largest listed power and gas company after President Nicolas Sarkozy stepped in to prevent the 18-month old deal from collapsing. The politically charged ”merger of equals”, delayed by disputes over valuation and control, will be on the basis of 21 Gaz de France shares for 22 Suez shares.