8 finweek 15 August 2019 http://www.fin24.com/finweek
in brief
- Former CEO of HSBC John Flint said to Reuters following his exit. The surprise
announcement, just 18 months after Flint was elevated to the CEO role, signals a
potential change in approach at one of the world’s largest banks, according to The
Wall Street Journal, which adds that some people in the bank and on the board were
frustrated with Flint’s low-key style and decided that he had to go in order for HSBC
to keep up and get ahead of business conditions and world events. A person familiar
with the matter told Reuters Flint’s more tentative approach to cutting expenses and
setting revenue targets for senior managers to boost profit growth did not sit well with
the chairman. The ousting went ahead despite the bank posting a 16% rise in profit.
“IT’S THE RIGHT TIME FOR CHANGE,
AND DOING IT CLEARLY AND
DECISIVELY FROM A POSITION OF
STRENGTH IS VERY IMPORTANT.”
“We see this action as an attempt to
limit competition in the market...”
- Liberty Holdings CEO David Munro spoke at the company’s interim results
presentation on 1 August about the legal contest that is playing out between it and one
of its biggest rivals, Discovery. Discovery is taking Liberty to court after the latter recently
launched its Wellness Bonus programme, which rewards Liberty customers based on
their rewards status with Discovery and Momentum’s wellness programmes. According
to Munro, this data belongs to clients and companies should not be allowed to dictate
how it is used. Discovery counters that although this data does belong to its clients, it’s
a result of 20 years of product development and that Liberty’s use of this intellectual
property is tantamount to theft. At the presentation, Munro made it clear that Liberty will
“vigorously defend this matter”. - China’s ambassador to South Africa, Lin Songtian,
told Reuters that while fellow African nations have been
undergoing a decade-long infrastructure development boom
(aided by the Chinese government), it’s a different story in
SA. Lin said projects proposed by SA authorities lacked feasibility
studies capable of reassuring the Chinese government and banks of their profitability
and sustainability. He said China wants to see more certainty and favourable
conditions, for example policies of extending incentives including tax breaks, enshrined
in an investment law passed by Parliament. On Eskom’s debt issues, the ambassador
pronounced the power utility a “debt trap” and said although they [China] gave loans
to Eskom before ($2.5bn in 2018) they have since become “very cautious”.
“TO DATE THERE ARE NO MAJOR
INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS
FROM CHINA HERE. WHY?”
>> Mining: Anglo American is going to reward shareholders to the
tune of R25bn p.EDITORIAL & SALES
Editor Anneli Groenewald Managing Editor
Jana Jacobs Journalists and Contributors
Simon Brown, Lucas de Lange, Johan Fourie,
Moxima Gama, Mariam Isa, David McKay,
Timothy Rangongo, Petri Redelinghuys, Melusi
Tshabalala, Amanda Visser, Jaco Visser, Glenda
Williams Sub-Editor Katrien Smit Editorial
Assistant Thato Marolen Layout Artists David
Kyslinger, Beku Mbotoli Advertising Paul
Goddard 082 650 9231/[email protected]
Clive Kotze 082335 4957/clive@mediamatic.
co.za Sales Executive Tanya Finch 082 961
9429/[email protected] Publisher
Sandra Ladas [email protected]
General Manager Dev Naidoo Production
Angela Silver [email protected],
Pam Moodley [email protected]
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