This is a half day seminar in Durban on the 19th May 2008, split into 2 sections dealing with two very important issues that the financial and credit departments of South African businesses have to ensure they are up to speed in, namely commercial fraud prevention and the effect on creditors of the proposed new business rescue, in terms of the Companies Bill.
It is aimed at:
- Financial directors
-Financial managers
-Credit managers
- Accountants
- Legal adviser

Business Report’s Ethel Hazelhurst:
“Households are paying about 12 percent of their household income in interest costs, according to Dennis Dykes, the group economist of Nedbank.
At a presentation yesterday, he said the percentage was higher than it was at the peak of the last rate-rising cycle in 2003, when it remained below the long-term average of just more than 9 percent. But it had not yet reached the peak of about 15 percent in 1998-99.
Dykes said the risk of a further interest rate increase, when the Reserve Bank’s monetary policy committee …

As ever, the Practice of Leadership blog has another interesting article – this time dealing with the inability to act with a company.

“If your strategy doesn’t help employees act, it’s not a strategy.“

Quoting from Fast Company article entitled , “Analysis of Paralysis” :

“Researchers Eldar Shafir and Donald Redelmeier helped prove this point in an article in The Journal of the American Medical Association. They gave doctors the medical history of a 67-year-old man who’d been suffering chronic hip pain from osteoarthritis. He’d been given drugs to …

Independent Online’s Xolani Mbanjwa:
The SA Law Reform Commission (SALRC) has made recommendations regarding the abolishment of administration orders.
The recommendations, to be considered by parliament, were handed to Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla recently.
They are based on research conducted by the SALRC into anomalies in the debt collection and recovery industry.
Senior SALRC researcher Tienie Cronje said administration orders were carried out under the Magistrates’ Courts Act, but the industry nevertheless had been left largely unregulated.
In its review, the SALRC said there were several “abuses and practical problems” in the administration order …

“The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.”
Ken Blanchard

We report on the 14th February 2008 that the Transunion ITC had reported that they had been denied access to the judgment records at the Johannesburg Magistrates court.
Well they have now reported that:
“The Johannesburg Courts have granted us access for a specified period of time every day and as such we are currently visiting the courts on a daily basis to collect all judgments granted, including those judgments that we were unable to access since mid-November 2007 due to the courts denying access to all bureaux.
We …

Business Report‘s Slindile Khanyile:
“Some consumers misunderstood the purpose of debt counselling, perceiving it to be the means to escape their repayment obligations, South Africa’s four major banks and the national credit regulator (NCR) said yesterday.
Three of the banks – Standard, First National and Nedbank – have received more than 14 500 applications from over-indebted customers who wanted the assistance of debt counsellors since the procedure was introduced last June. The NCR has had 8 031 applicants.
Most applicants stopped paying their debts after they were given the go-ahead by counsellors to …

Business Report‘s Slindile Khanyile:
“Some consumers misunderstood the purpose of debt counselling, perceiving it to be the means to escape their repayment obligations, South Africa’s four major banks and the national credit regulator (NCR) said yesterday.
Three of the banks – Standard, First National and Nedbank – have received more than 14 500 applications from over-indebted customers who wanted the assistance of debt counsellors since the procedure was introduced last June. The NCR has had 8 031 applicants.
Most applicants stopped paying their debts after they were given the go-ahead by counsellors to …

One of our clients found out today that they are the victim of a fraud involving credit, for almost half a million rand.
We would like to take this opportunity to warn all credit grantors of this type of fraud and warn them to be vigilant. We warned of this crime here and Credit Guarantee in their November 2007 edition of their magazine Credit Notes, in fact warned against this fraud with a very similar example of what happened to one of their clients.
Modus Operandi of Credit Fraudster

You will receive a …

According to a report from the National Credit Regulator (NCR), Credit Bureaux held records for 16.9 million credit active consumers, as at 30 September 2007.
The 16.9 million consumers together have 50.98 million accounts with credit providers and other suppliers of goods and services. This translated into 3.02 accounts per credit active consumer.
A consumer’s credit record contains information on the manner in which consumers manage their accounts. This information is managed by credit bureaus, who receive the information from banks, retailers and other credit providers. When a consumer applies for credit …