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/ 21 December 2005
The life industries’ settlement of between R2,6-billlion and R3-billion has in part brought finality to the seven-month battle between the life industry and pension funds adjudicator. Recently the National Treasury and Life Offices Association issued statements that agreed to terms in which policy-holders will be reimbursed for fees recouped by life companies as a result of early surrender.
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/ 14 December 2005
Money market accounts are ideal for shorter-term lump-sum investments because they offer a flexible savings vehicle at considerably higher interest rates than a normal savings account, but they do require fairly high minimum balances. Most money market accounts calculate their interest rates daily and are therefore not fixed.
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/ 23 November 2005
Credit cards are the cheapest way to bank — as long as you pay off your full amount each month. Although there is an annual card fee there are no monthly fees, no transaction charges when purchasing and you can get up to 52 days interest free. The interest rate paid on credit balances is often higher than cheque accounts and you can even link them to Internet banking to pay your bills.
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/ 1 November 2005
South Africans feel worse off this year, with more people claiming to have gone without cash income or medical treatment than last year. These are the latest results from the 2005 FinScope Survey, conducted by FinMark Trust, which tracks perceptual changes in the South African environment, especially in relation to financial services.
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/ 17 October 2005
The Pension Funds Adjudicator issued a further 14 rulings relating to retirement annuities recently, of which four were settled by the life companies. This brings the total number of RA rulings to 68. According to the PFA’s office, it has seen a substantial increase in the number of complaints received over the past six months.
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/ 17 October 2005
The battle of the banks for the cellphone banking market is getting into full swing with Absa coming forward with a high–profile mobile banking campaign offering free cellphone banking for six months. Although Absa was the first bank to introduce cellphone banking in August 2000, the product was in many ways ahead of its time.
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/ 14 October 2005
Trusts have received some bad press recently as a result of changing tax legislation. Gone are the days where you chucked all your assets into a trust to avoid tax and transfer duty on your property. With the advent of capital gains tax, having your home held in a trust structure means you cannot take advantage of the R1-million rebate on your primary residence.
Recently the Pension Funds Adjudicator (PFA), Vuyani Ngalwana issued rulings on a further 22 retirement annuities (RAs). Life companies have chosen to settle 15 of these rather than face the negative publicity. This brings to 54 the total number of RA rulings since March. The life companies are appealing seven of these in the High Court.
First National Bank (FNB) has obtained a 67,74% reach in under-serviced areas over the past two years in its drive to meet the Financial Sector Charter targets, which require 80% of low-income earners to be within 15km of a banking facility. The roll-out of 1Â 400 mini-ATMs across the country has been a major part of FNB’s strategy to reach isolated communities.
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/ 16 September 2005
Despite increasing wealth and becoming a consumer force to be reckoned with, the emerging black middle class faces financial risks from job volatility and unexpected interest rate hikes. On the positive side, despite increased access to credit and rising levels of indebtedness, this segment of the population is still in many ways shielded from the far greater economic shocks .
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/ 16 September 2005
It would seem that MTN Banking was not the first to market with a pure cellphone banking product. Wizzit, a small company that has purposely stayed under the radar screen for fear of being trampled on by the bigger banks, launched a cellphone-banking product in November last year.
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/ 13 September 2005
The launch of the Mzansi Money Transfer will go some way to meeting the banking needs of lower-income earners who, despite opening Mzansi accounts, are showing a relatively low usage of the product. According to Colin Donian, head of Mzansi at the Banking Association, 1,6-million people have now signed up for the Mzansi bank account.
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/ 7 September 2005
For Deutsche Bank and the JSE, the launch of Itrix, their range of international exchange traded funds (ETFs), could not have come at a better time amid fierce public debate on fund management fees. An ETF is a basket of shares that passively tracks an underlying index and is itself listed on a stock exchange.
South Africans tend to invest solely in actively managed funds, yet the latest study on active versus passive management released by Deutsche Securities suggests that active managers do not always add value relative to their costs, and that passive funds have a fundamental role in an investment portfolio.
The residential property market is showing signs of stabilising as activity has dropped marginally. There is, however, robust growth from the middle-income houses, according to the second-quarter FNB Residential Property Barometer. According to Ed Grondel, CEO of FNB Homeloans, the drop in activity can be attributed to seasonality, as winter sets in and fewer houses come to market.
On Monday Sanlam will be the first life insurance company to challenge the ruling of the pension fund adjudicator in the case of Mr de Beer in the Cape High Court. De Beer wanted to reduce the premium on his policy. Sanlam sought to penalise him R43Â 000 — the value of the policy was R46Â 000.
Last year R20,5-billion worth of individual life investment products were surrendered before maturity. This represents a staggering 26% of the R74-billion the life companies received from total individual premium income last year. When one compares this figure with individual premium income from new business last year, for every R2 of new business written, R1 was lost to surrender.
When buying a car, few people are fortunate enough to pay cash. After your house, it is probably your biggest financial commitment and a big-ticket item on your budget. Before you start pounding the showrooms or flipping through the AutoTrader, you need to know exactly how much you can afford.
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/ 25 February 2005
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/197779/special_rep_icon_template.gif" align=left>The CEO of Stanlib Asset Management, Allan Miller, is looking gleefully at the increases for police officers and teachers to guide his investment decisions. The move will put more money in their pockets and they will be able to increase spending as well as take on more credit.
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/ 25 February 2005
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/197779/special_rep_icon_template.gif" align=left>Thanks to an unexpected increase in revenue of more than R11-billion this year, Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel again played Mr Nice Guy and cut individual taxes by a further R6,8-billion. This bonanza is aimed at the lower-income earner, with 62,8% of the benefit going to people who earn less than R200Â 000 a year.
New evidence shows IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi approved paramilitary activities aimed at undermining the 1994 election. Ivor Powell reports.