8 finweek 24 October 2019 http://www.fin24.com/finweek
in brief
- Denis Beau, the first deputy governor of the Bank of France, fired the latest
warning shot over the risks posed by Facebook’s planned libra cryptocurrency,
reported Reuters. Facebook announced its plans for libra in June, while politicians and
regulators worldwide voiced concerns about the project, saying it risked upsetting
global financial stability, undermining users’ privacy and enabling money laundering. At
the time of writing, Visa, Mastercard, Stripe and eBay became the latest companies to
withdraw, following Pay Pal, the first to jump ship. Reuters said the exodus leaves the
Libra Association with no remaining major payments companies as members, and no
global player to help consumers turn their currency into libra for transactions.
“If they were to take off, they would
raise additional issues in terms of
competition, policy, financial stability
and monetary policy.”
“I CANNOT ACCEPT THAT IT’S
GOING TO BE THIS DIFFICULT.”
- CEO of PSG Group, Piet Mouton, quoted in Business Day after the company
released its results for the six months to 31 August. (Also see story on p.15.) PSG
reported an increase in headline earnings per share of 12%, to R5.68. Mouton said that
in a constrained economic environment PSG’s valuations were holding up and the
group would continue to invest with a positive outlook. The paper quoted him as saying
he believed the country has seen the worst and that “it could get a lot better from
here”. “You go through good times and you’ve got to ride out the tough times too.” - President Cyril Ramaphosa said he is confident the
National Prosecuting Authority and crime intelligence
authorities will be going after those complicit in state
capture, the cost of which he placed at R500bn (one of
several estimations) during his opening address at The
Financial Times Africa Summit in London, reported fin24.
Meanwhile, the US Treasury announced sanctions against
the controversial Gupta family and their associate, Salim
Essa, over their alleged role in state capture, referring to them as
“members of a significant corruption network in SA that leveraged overpayments
on government contracts, bribery, and other corrupt acts to fund political
contributions and influence government actions”.
“WHETHER IN THE COUNTRY OR
OUTSIDE THE COUNTRY – [WE]
WILL FOLLOW THEM UP.”
Photo: Shutterstock>> Mining: Coal industry needs light at end of tunnel p.
>> Cash purchases of mines not a bridge too far for Implats p.EDITORIAL & SALES
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