Finance & Equity

South African fin-tech start-up, Payflex, is on the warpath with South Africa’s debt crisis. We intend to save online consumers from themselves by encouraging them to spend responsibly while offering online shoppers an interest-free payment solution. Our arrival to market is well-timed.

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) once again unanimously voted in favour of lowering the repo rate this month, although 2 out of the 5 members preferred a shallower cut. In a vote of 3 to 2, the MPC decided to lower the repo rate by 50bp to 3.75%.

As the economy opens up, following the slow phasing out of the nationwide COVID-19 lockdown, many businesses are returning to work. For small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), who have lost out on eight weeks of trade, the process of reopening their doors and scaling up production is going to be difficult.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a global impact. The South African government has been applauded by the World Health Organisation for its quick response to curb the spread of the COVID-19 in its early stages, and prepare its health care system to better respond to the pandemic.

The world is facing one of its gravest crises in recent memory as it stares down COVID-19 and the wealth management industry has a key role to play by steadying the investment ship and navigating investors’ safely through this storm.

With the lockdown period having significant ramifications on personal finances, many consumers are asking about available options to assist in better managing their money. One option is debt consolidation, which in the right circumstances can improve current cash flows and save costs.

With the payment of the first COVID-19 Temporary Employee / Employer Relief Scheme (TERS) benefits, various misunderstandings have come to the forefront.

In response to the COVID-19 emergency, the South African Reserve Bank (Reserve Bank) and the South African financial sector regulators, the Prudential Authority and the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), have implemented several mitigation measures to support the economy and companies.

The Covid-19 crisis has brought much of the world economy to a sudden stop. Millions upon millions of people are in lockdown across the world, preventing them from working, buying, producing and selling goods and services. Global and local supply chains are interrupted, and small and large companies see a collapse in income. Households are under similar pressure.

The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) cut rates by another 100 basis points this morning in an inter-meeting move. Rates are now down 225 bps since the start of the year, and down 250bps since July last year.