Star 2022-08-15

THE SOUTH African Reserve Bank’s Prudential Authority (PA) has lambasted Nedbank for administrative compliance failures including failing to comply with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism governance-related obligations.The PA said in a statement on Friday that it was imposing administrative sanctions on Nedbank and it directed the bank to take remedial action following an inspection in 2019, in terms of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (Fica). A Nedbank spokesperson said the inspection had come less than two months after amendments to the FIC Act were required to be implemented by April 2, 2019. “While Nedbank has paid the financial penalty and acknowledged the administrative shortcomings present at the time in 2019, it would like to highlight that the lengthy delays in promulgating the amended Fica had particular adverse implications for Nedbank –…

Scuttling Sekunjalo’s perfectly legitimate offer to save Ubank slammed SEKUNJALO has expressed disappointment that the curators of Ubank advised they could not allow the Sekunjalo Consortium an opportunity to purchase Ubank, as they had been given instructions by the Prudential Authority (PA) of South African Reserve Bank (SARB), to only sell Ubank to other banks. Sekunjalo chairperson Dr Iqbal Survé expressed concern about the outcome, saying: “This is extremely disappointing and worrying. Despite our best efforts to transform the banking sector and committing capital and resources to ensure that Ubank could be retained in the hands of workers such as NUM, it is patently clear SARB has no intention of allowing diversification of the banking industry,” said Survé. In a letter to SARB, Sekunjalo expressed a formal interest in acquiring…

CAXTON and CTP Publishers and Printers have broadsided the management of Mpact for continuing to act in a cartel, following Mpact’s claims that Caxton had “ulterior” motives when it voted against Mpact’s directors pay at the annual meeting. Caxton, Mpact’s largest shareholder with a 34 percent stake, said in a statement on Friday that “far from” having an ulterior motive, Caxton’s intention to acquire control of Mpact had been met with “inexplicable hostility”. This not only from Mpact, but also from Golden Era, which is Mpact’s competitor, major customer, co-accused in a cartel case which has been under investigation by the Competition Commission since 2016, and more recently a 10 percent shareholder in Mpact. Mpact CEO Bruce Strong yesterday refuted any allegations of acting as a cartel, and…

GLOBAL oil prices marched back towards the $100-mark (R1 619) per barrel on Friday due to temporary supply disruptions and rising demand forecasts in spite of recession fears. Shell and Chevron on Thursday briefly halted oil production at several platforms in the Gulf of Mexico after a leak shut two pipelines connecting the platforms, but pipeline service resumed on Friday. This saw the price of Brent crude oil rebounding 2.4 percent from last week’s sharp decline to $99.39 per barrel by close of trade on Friday, before paring gains in the evening. Meanwhile, the International Energy Agency (IEA) raised its forecast for global oil consumption by 380 000 barrels per day to 2.1 million, citing a global switch from natural gas to oil due to supply…

A LOT HAS been said about Amazon’s plans to build its Africa headquarters and much less has been said about its products. The reality is that whether there’s success in building a brick-and-mortar HQ or not, there’s little that can be done to stop the Amazon DNA in South Africa. The fight against building on heritage land in Cape Town may be worthy, however, there’s something that should be of greater concern for South Africans. As Amazon plans to set up its online marketplace next year in South Africa there’s a need to be aware of the products that will come with the Amazonification of South Africa. Some of those products are robots that collect citizens’ data in a way that we’ve never experienced before. Amazon is planning to acquire…

LAST WEEK I wrote about South Africa’s healthcare system that became inaccessible to many people due to the consistent neglect, poor management, and corruption of public health facilities. This situation is further exacerbated by the unaffordability of private healthcare for most people in South Africa. Especially people in remote areas often do not have access to quality health services. To increase access to healthcare of people living in remote areas, I offered the possible solution of telemedicine or telehealth, used with great success in many countries across the world. Telemedicine generally refers to the use of modern technology to provide clinical care and other medical services remotely to persons whose access to medical services are restricted by geography. South Africa experiences a serious problem with the ability of state hospitals…