Sasol’s extends BEE invite

Sasol’s Inzalo Black Public Invitations have been extended to July 9, the chemical and fuels company said on Wednesday.

“Anticipated last minute pressure on Post Offices has resulted in a three working day extension of the closing date for participation in the Sasol Inzalo Black Public Invitations,” Sasol said in a statement.

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Jobs in the firing line as banks feel the pinch

Johannesburg – After announcements from two major financial institutions that they are shedding staff, a third plans to follow suit.

The home loans division of First National Bank (FNB) was planning to “reduce the layers of current management” after a decision to embark on “a significant restructure” to “reduce the extent of the bank’s home loans product representation in the current seven regional offices around the country”, it said yesterday.

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Cut in credit demand, rise in bad debts are lethal combination

High interest rates, which were still rising, had reduced demand for credit from 28 South African retail banks, including the big four, and had caused bad debts to increase, Emilio Pera, the lead banking director at Ernst & Young, said yesterday.

Pera said rising inflation left households with less “discretionary income” to service existing debt.

“This double knock results in revenue growth pressures at these banks at the same time that expenses are generally pressured upwards through increasing bad debt costs.”

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Homeowners risk negative equity as house prices drop

Pretoria – Standard Bank’s median house price last month dropped by 11.3 percent year on year to R550 000 from R620 000 in June last year, increasing the possibility that some homeowners owe more on their homes than they could sell them for. Its five-month moving average growth rate in the median house price was minus 7.8 percent.

Sizwe Nxedlana, a Standard Bank property economist, said yesterday that these deep negative numbers had been distorted by the surge in median house prices last year because of uncertainty in the residential property market about the pending implementation of the National Credit Act.

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Rate hikes cut into new loans

Johannesburg – While total mortgage loans have continued to grow, the value of new mortgage loans is falling – a sign that the 5 percentage point rise in interest rates over the past two years is putting a curb on borrowing.

Over the 12 months to May, banks’ total mortgage books rose by about a fifth, but Efficient Group economist Fanie Joubert said that only R10.3 billion in mortgage advances was awarded in May, “compared with an average monthly rise of around R14 billion during the previous 12 months”.

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