“Leadership does not always wear the harness of compromise.”
Woodrow Wilson

Business Report article:
Standard Bank’s interim earnings a share probably rose by between 20 percent and 30 percent, Africa’s largest lender said on Friday, as faster economic growth in South Africa boosted demand for credit.
No reasons were given for the gain, but UBS banking analyst Stephan Potgieter said Standard Bank “has the dominant corporate banking franchise in South Africa and provides significant gearing to the emergence of a strong corporate banking cycle”. He said the bank. also had “by far the most momentum in retail banking”.
Economic growth at almost 5 percent …

Unfortunately I was on away most of last week giving seminars on credit management and debt collections throughout the country and unable to post anything on the blog.
However on my travels I did hear, from a reliable source, an interesting explanation of the question of the missing debt counsellors appointed in terms of the National Credit Act. Previously I had reported on the anomaly of the fact that the National Credit Regulator’s office had said that there would initially be 500 debt counsellors but that their website only reflects 35 …

The laws and landscape of credit management have changed a great deal in the last year, particularly with the introduction of the National Credit Act. Is your credit department up to date with the law and requirements of credit management?
The seminar will be an overview for Commercial Creditors presented by Bentley Credit Control (Pty) Ltd.
This is a one day seminar in Durban to be held on the 24th August 2007, at 8.30am for 9am. It is aimed at commercial creditors (businesses who supply other businesses on credit). It will cover …

Prior to the introduction of the NCA I had written an article explaining the legal and credit management concept of an acceleration clause.
Last month a comment was posted by Eugene Opperman asking my opinion on the effect of the NCA on acceleration clauses.
“Question: What is commonly referred to in credit management, as an acceleration clause is a clause in which a creditor granting a debtor the right to repay a debt in instalments agrees the right to proceed for the full debt in the event of the debtor defaulting in …

Reuters reports that:
“South African fashion, food and homeware group Woolworths Holdings Ltd expects full-year headline earnings per share to increase by 15-25 percent, the group said on Wednesday.
But the company said its provision for bad debt rose as higher interest rates made for a tougher debt collection environment, and its shares fell.
“If they come in on the lower side of that (earnings) guidance, it will be disappointing,” Renaissance Asset Management head of research, Nothando Ndebele, said, adding growth in bad debts was concerning and was eroding profit.
Headline EPS is the …

I’m currently reading Flow by Mihaly Csikszentimihalyi (I believe its pronounced “chick sent me high”).
While the book deals with the enjoyment and happiness of life as a whole, there are many references to the achievement of what he refers to as the “flow” state at work.
Flow is not simple pleasure but something more, it is the mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing, characterized by a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the …

I’m currently reading Flow by Mihaly Csikszentimihalyi (I believe its pronounced “chick sent me high”).
While the book deals with the enjoyment and happiness of life as a whole, there are many references to the achievement of what he refers to as the “flow” state at work.
Flow is not simple pleasure but something more, it is the mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing, characterized by a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the …

On Business Report:
“Cape Town – The Life Offices’ Association is launching an urgent enquiry into whether some companies have been contravening consumer credit insurance practices, the association announced on Thursday.
In a press statement the LOA said that they noted with concern media reports last weekend that some consumer credit insurance member companies were allegedly breaking remuneration and commission regulations set out in the Long-term Insurance Act.
LOA chief executive officer Gerhard Joubert said that their association decided at a meeting this week to launch an enquiry into the consumer credit insurance …

On Business Report by Ethel Hazelhurst:
“Johannesburg – A sustained rise of 100 basis points in the prime overdraft rate is likely lead to a 10.5 percent increase in the number of insolvencies within 11 quarters, according to Johan van den Heever, the head of the Reserve Bank’s research department.
His calculation appears in a report on household debt, interest rates and insolvencies, published in the July edition of the Irving Fisher Committee on Central Bank Statistics Bulletin, along with reports from a range of other countries on the topic “measuring the …