M.Com. (Business Management) / South Africa as a country is struggling with the impact and consequences of fraud and corruption. This problem is driven by mostly white-collar crime and organisational wrongdoing. One of the largest banks in the country is losing in excess of R200m per annum as a result of internal fraud and corruption. This study aims to investigate the factors that influence whistleblowing as a measure to remediate this problem. For the sake of this study, whistle-blowing is defined as the reporting of illegal, immoral or illegitimate practices to people or institutions that can correct these wrongdoings. If the employees and the organisation better understand the drivers that promote effective whistleblowing, it could in turn help to expose these wrongdoings and thereby limit the negative impact on the organisational stakeholders and society in general. The research method used was quantitative, aimed at discovering patterns and/or causal relationships that could shed light on the factors that impact whistle-blowing. This study applied statistical methods to critically test the research results. The statistical analysis highlighted some of the key variables that influence the determinants of whistle-blowing. These findings revealed trust, knowledge, character and situation as the key variables that correlate to whistle-blowing determinants. It rejected motives, prevention, gender, level of education and employment duration as whistle-blowing determinants. The study concludes by providing recommendations to both the organisation and the prospective whistle-blower in this regard.

M.Comm. (Business Management) / The objectives of this research project were identified as being as follows: • To identify the possible use of Decision Support Systems III financial institutions through a literature study with attention given to: • the relationship of decision theory to Decision Support Systems • the theory of Decision Support Systems • how Decision Support Systems are currently used, and • trends in the use of Decision Support Systems.• To identify the use and awareness of Decision Support Systems in a spectrum of financial institutions in South Africa by interviewing selected individuals from a number of financial institutions. The interviews were necessary due to the lack of specific South African literature. Aspects that were investigated and analysed are: • the current use of Decision Support Systems, • the planned implementation of Decision Support Systems, and • the comparison of international practices with the situation in South Africa. The institutions that were targeted are two of the major banks, a niche bank, an insurance company and a stock-broking company.

Discusses the human rights obligations of International Financial Institutions and suggests different human rights accountability mechanisms through the Right to Development paradigm / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2008. / A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Law University of Pretoria, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Masters of Law (LLM in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa). Prepared under the supervision of Prof. Jaap de Visser, Faculty of Law, University of Western Cape, South Africa / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/ / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

D.Com. (Marketing Management) / The size of South Africa's banking industry grew from R398 billion in 1995 to R471 billion in 1996 while banking transactions totalled R58 634 billion during 1996. Like most other service companies, the banking industry also experiences customer turnover. During the period March 1995 to February 1996 customer switch, which refers to the closing of an account at one institution and the opening of a new account at another institution, by clients of all banks amounted to 4,9 percent. Mutual interaction between a service provider and a client is a very important determinant of customer satisfaction with a service. It is therefore important for the company to focus on the retention of customers because it is more profitable to retain a customer rather than recruiting new customers. Customer switching can damage the future stream of income of a company. The loss of a customer therefore, is not only one transaction, the company looses a life long stream of income. Customer satisfaction therefore influences the primary source of future income of most companies directly. Quality service is of utmost importance for the success and survival of companies in today's competitive environment. To be successful it is necessary for each department within the company to operate effectively and to be client orientated. Companies believe that they will be more profitable if a marketing orientation is established within the company. Employees must therefore, understand their role in the total service chain. A client's perception of a service becomes reality when he/she experiences the service during a service encounter where interaction between the customer and the company takes place with the employee as intermediary.

This dissertation consists of three chapters. The first chapter uses credit card data to estimate the impact of increasing minimum payments on delinquency, payments, spending, and write-offs. The identification strategy exploits an unusual institutional feature: borrowers can use their account to make purchases with both revolving loans (on which minimum payments increased) and term loans (on which there was no change). Payment increases by delinquent borrowers are insufficient to match increasing minimums, resulting in lower cure rates and an increase in write-offs. Affected borrowers migrate away from these accounts by decreasing charges and increasing payments, consequently lowering the interest earned by the bank. The second chapter analyzes the response of consumption, debt, and delinquency to an anticipated increase in cash-on-hand in the presence of liquidity constraints. It uses account-level data from a North American bank that allows clients to make purchases using credit card and term loans on the same account. Term loans are paid off in a predetermined number of equal monthly installments. The end of a term loan therefore generates a predictable increase in cash-on-hand relative to months in which payments were required. Consistent with a model in which consumers are potentially liquidity constrained, consumers \textit{ex-ante} identified as unconstrained do not increase their credit card expenditures, constrained consumers increase both their credit card expenditures and balance, and consumers for whom the credit card is the marginal source of funds decrease their balance. The propensity to take out a new term loan increases for all consumers, whether constrained or not. About 4% of unconstrained consumers delay taking out a new term loan until the original loan is repaid, contrary to theoretical predictions. Paying off the term loan reduces financial delinquency and the probability of default. The third chapter analyzes the comovement of personal savings and income using administrative data provided by a North American bank that records the sum of monthly direct deposit income into its clients' checking accounts. It investigates how permanent and transitory income changes are smoothed by checking account balances. Transitory income changes, whether positive or negative, have only transitory effects on checking account balances, suggesting that consumption is excessively sensitive to them compared to theoretical predictions. Permanent income changes lead to permanent adjustments in consumption and modest permanent adjustments in checking account balances, consistent with theoretical predictions. There is evidence of anticipation of future income changes as much as three months in advance.

Submitted in compliance with the requirements for the Doctorate degree in Technology, Department of Public Management and Economics, Durban University of Technology, 2014. / Identifying the best level of debt financing within corporations and its determinants is one of the main issues in financial management theory, as the use of debt is believed to have an important influence on the performance of corporations. The majority of studies on debt financing have been undertaken using data from developed economies, focusing more on private sector non-financial corporations. This study investigated the factors influencing debt financing and whether the use of debt positively or negatively influences the financial performance of state corporations in Kenya. The “financial leverage”, which is the proportion of debt financing of state corporations in the Kenyan region, based on the total debt and the total assets, was the object of analysis for the period 2007 to 2011. Applying both descriptive and inferential statistics, and a hybrid of cross sectional and longitudinal quantitative surveys, primary data from questionnaires, and secondary data from the corporations’ financial statements, were utilized. The sample size used was 50 income generating state corporations in Kenya. Using the primary and secondary data, the study, in addition, determined the extent of debt financing and analysed the different types of debt financing used by the various state corporations. It focused on the use of financial ratio analysis to identify the financial performance of the corporations by applying a pooling of cross-section analysis. Moreover, the “financial leverage” ratio was analysed in correlation with the financial performance ratios, in order to identify the potential of anticipation for future financing options for state corporations in Kenya. Further, the regression analysis result was used to demonstrate whether there is a relationship between the corporation’s “financial leverage” and its financial performance ratios and the debt financing theory suitable for explaining debt capital structure within the state corporations. The panel data for financial performance helped in identifying whether there was a significant relationship between “financial leverage” of corporations and their financial performance. The results identified the main factors influencing debt financing within state-owned corporations in Kenya to include profitability, asset tangibility and corporation growth. It was also determined that debt financing is inversely related to financial performance of state-owned corporations in Kenya. In addition, the results revealed that state-owned corporations from developed and developing economies use capital market debt securities, such as bonds and notes, and derivative financial instruments, such as swaps, options and forward contracts. In contrast, these types of debt are not common within the Kenyan state-owned corporations. The developed and developing economies state-owned corporations are perceived to have embraced the new public sector financial management reforms agenda and operate in more developed and efficient capital markets. However, in Kenya, the new public sector financial management agenda may have not been implemented positively within the state-owned corporations and the country’s capital market may still be efficient. It is expected that the findings of this study would have vital policy implications for Kenyan state-owned corporations, in particular, and the government, in general.

Thesis (MDF)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The approach to offering financial services to the poor has evolved over the past decades. The microfinance schism between the two paradigms, institutionist and welfarist, has yet to be narrowed by evidence of greater success of the one over the other. The drive for commercialisation of microfinance institutions has spurred many crises across the globe and the validity of the argument that commercial microfinance is more sustainable has come under scrutiny. This research report dissects the sustainability of African Bank and Capitec, two commercial microfinance institutions. Accounting ratios are applied to the audited financial data of both microfinance institutions to measure their sustainability from 2007 up to their most recent audited results. The research has found that both microfinance institutions experienced rapid growth since 2007, primarily driven by larger average loan sizes over longer terms. The research shows that Capitec has more diverse sources of revenue and depends less on its loan portfolio to generate income than African Bank. It also shows that Capitec has a more conservative approach with regard to provisioning for loans, and is consequently better prepared for loan write-offs than African Bank. Overall, Capitec is found to be more sustainable in each period measured.

Thesis (MDF)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The debate as to whether there is a trade–off between financial sustainability and outreach remains inconclusive among many researchers, therefore this research was conducted to bridge this knowledge gap. The study was conducted in Harare using longitudinal research design and analysed using panel data regression model. The study was conducted for the period of 3 years from 2011 to 2013 on 60 sampled MFIs in Harare. The findings were that MFIs in Harare are very sustainable but their outreach is low as shown by large loan sizes offered to clients. It was further revealed that staff cost per dollar and proportion of female clients are the only variables that affect sustainability of MFIs in Harare. Finally the research revealed that sustainability goals be achieved simultaneously and therefore are compatible. The key contributions to knowledge revealed by the study are as follows: there is a positive relationship between sustainability and outreach. Two variables affect sustainability on MFIs in Harare namely staff cost per dollar and proportion of female clients. The study recommends that Microfinance institutions in Harare should focus on financial sustainability in order to reduce their subsidy dependence, to ensure survival and growth in the future. To the policy makers the study recommends that sustainability does not compromise the outreach to the poor.

published_or_final_version / abstract / China Development Studies / Master / Master of Arts

D.Com. (Business Economics) / A clear distinction should be made between the straightforward financing of a project and project finance itself. In short, project finance can be defined as the financing of a particular economic unit with the aim of the financial structuring to be such that there is as little recourse as possible to the sponsor of the project and the lender is thus satisfied to look at the cash flows and earnings as the source of repayment and the assets of the project as security. Usually, project finance would incorporate all or some of the following characteristics namely, off balance sheet financing, recourse limited to the pre-commissioning stage, an element of fixed rate debt, utilisation of tax allowances, optimisation of tax position, long term finance and some degree of foreign exchange activity. If the project is sponsored by an existing company, it will be looking to maximise debt, minimise recourse and group tax liability, optimise financial costs and retain or improve financial ratios after consolidation of the project. However, the degree of project financing appropriate for any project depends on what lenders are prepared to accept and what sponsors are prepared to provide in order to let the project become a reality. The project financier's role is to formulate financial structures, assess financial feasibility, develop funding proposals, secure sources of finance and to manage the financing facilities once they are in place. A project sponsor employs a project financier because the latter is objective, impartial, has access to required information and is able to process it into a professional presentation to the financial community, has the experience and expertise to advise on the most appropriate and cost effective financing structure and is best equipped to perform a thorough project financial analysis. This study has been undertaken to point out the differences between project finance and finance for a project, to identify the role of project financier and is as such largely concentrated on the financial side of a project. The goal was to discuss the importance of project finance from the financial institutions' viewpoint and to identify those aspects that would be important to a project advisor or lender. Although relatively little has been published on project finance, it is a multidisciplinary subject and references have been used wherever available. The author's attendance at seminars on the subject, as well as discussions with international project financiers and bankers have also contributed to the understanding of the subject. In addition to an in-depth exposure to project finance in South Africa, several months have been spent with an international bank's project finance division in London.