- The Cooperative Banks for Development Agency was established in 2009 in terms of the Cooperative Banks Act, 2007. Its objectives are to provide for the registration of deposit-taking financial service cooperatives, savings and credit cooperatives, community banks and village banks, and their regulation and supervision. The agency also facilitates, promotes and funds the education and training of cooperative bank personnel.
- The Development Bank of Southern Africa Act, 1997 stipulates that the main role of this Development Finance Institution (DBSA) is to promote economic development and growth, human resource development and institutional capacity-building.
- Collective investment schemes (CIS) are investment structures whereby individual investor funds are pooled with those of other investors. Qualified asset managers regulated under the Financial Advisory and Intermediaries Act, 2002 invest these funds on behalf of the investor. Each investor owns units (participatory interest) in the total fund. The South African CIS industry has recovered well after the financial crisis. Total assets under management at the end of March 2011, increased to R962 billion, compared to R817 billion in March 2010, indicating growth of 18%.
- By 31 March 2011, there were 10 032 registered retirement funds supervised by the Financial Services Board. Of these, 3 160 funds were active, while the remainder comprised funds that are dormant, in orphan status (i.e. without boards of management), under curatorship, or being de registered or liquidated.
- Retail bonds can be purchased from National Treasury, the South African Post Office and Pick n Pay stores countrywide. Since the introduction of RSA fixed-rate retail savings bonds in May 2004 and inflation-linked retail bonds in April 2007, the cumulative amount reached R17,2 billion by 31 May 2012.
- Increased global demand for emerging market’s higher yielding debt has led to rising international interest in South African government bonds. Non-residents’ purchases of domestic bonds declined somewhat from a nett annual high of R52 billion in 2010 to a nett R42 billion in 2011. In the first six months of 2012, non-residents purchased a net of R49 billion worth of domestic bonds, which contributed to the noticeable decline in bond yields.
- The local bond market continued to benefit from prudent macro-economic policies, which saw the country through the global financial crisis in 2008. In 2011, turnover increased to record high of R20,9 trillion with support from non-residents.
State-Owned Enterprises
SOEs are responsible for the development of key infrastructure and manufacturing capacity for...
