South Africa's democratic transition towards social and economic equality is under constant scrutiny, challenged by rising levels of unemployment, poverty and inequality. Since 1994 the African National Congress government has enacted various legislative interventions to change long-established racial distortions of economic opportunity and wealth accumulation, a number of which target business. The response and role of business in such an environment remains contested, both in literature and practice. There were (and are) calls for the role of businesses to evolve beyond narrow profit maximisation to play a more active part in economic and social transformation. Against this backdrop the Financial Sector Charter was collaboratively developed between the industry and its social partners in 2003 as a route map for such change. Employing a critical realism approach with a longitudinal perspective, this qualitative study explores the perspectives of key protagonists of the Financial Sector Charter on their experiences of developing and implementing the initiative: how it came into being, how it was applied and what could be done differently. Based upon semi-structured interviews with senior leaders from industry, government, black business, trade associations, labour and NGOs, the study reveals a number of issues: a deliberate attempt to leverage the capabilities and competitive forces in the industry to drive change; contestation within government over this approach; and a desire to use the capabilities of the industry to “reset” the country's current path of economic transformation. The significance of the study lies in the hitherto undocumented exposure it gives to the perspectives of the people involved in this unusual form of cross-sector social partnership and their efforts to catalyse positive social change not only in the Financial Services industry but in South Africa more broadly.

The financial services sector is riddled with efficiency challenges and high costs resulting from the use of legacy financial systems. A solution for these challenges exists in the form of blockchain technology. However, adoption of blockchain in the financial services sector remains a challenge for several reasons. Key to this is the fact that the technology is still new, and there is a lack of clear information on how management of financial institutions can configure their organisations to prepare them for the adoption of the new technology. By investigating the technological aspects of blockchain technology; the organisational preparedness for adoption; and the environmental dynamics of financial services; this paper presents a framework for organisational adoption of blockchain technology. This framework will assist organisations to first reconfigure themselves to prepare for technological adoption; and second, align themselves to the requirements of adoption of blockchain technology. Through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with experts in the global financial services sector, it was found that there is a methodological approach to the adoption of blockchain technology. Blockchain advocates within organisations will be able to conduct an internal introspection into efficiency challenges they face, learn about blockchain technology, build a business case for adoption, reconfigure the organisation, align the organisation, and adopt blockchain to accord the organisation the necessary efficiencies. / Mini Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2021. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

The diploma thesis deals with customers’ satisfaction analysis with service quality focus on financial services. Based on the theoretical knowledge about customer satisfaction and methods of service quality research, the aim of this diploma thesis is to analyze current level of customer satisfaction with service quality in the selected company and to recommend possible proposals for its improvement.

The treatment of financial services under the VAT has been one of the most contentious VAT issues since the origin of the VAT. Due to theoretical and measurement complexities, most countries opt to exempt financial services under the VAT. Exemption is the cause of all the controversy. Exempting supplies under the VAT compromises one of the corner-stones of the VAT – neutrality. South Africa is one of many countries that exempts most financial services under VAT. Credit card suppliers in South Africa offer a bundle of financial services comprising fee-based-charges and interest earned. The credit card user is usually only charged for the interest. Interest is an exempt supply under VAT. This gives rise to many distortions for South African credit card users and financial intermediaries. Exhaustive research has been conducted on the treatment of financial services under the VAT around the world. This study only focusses on the VAT treatment of interest margins of credit cards in South Africa. Firstly, it was determined that credit card offerings in South Africa include bundled offerings which is impractical to separate on a transaction-for-for transaction-basis due to valuation complexities and market conditions. Secondly, it was determined that VAT doesn’t play a major role in credit card suppliers’ decision on how offerings are structured. It is mostly guided by the competition and legislation. Thirdly, it was determined that administrative burden and compliance cost caused by apportionment in South Africa is highly underplayed in the literature. Lastly, it was proposed that full taxation of all financial services with implicit charges at a lower rate or full taxation of fee-based charges with exemption of financial services with a partial input recovery, to be the best alternatives for South Africa to consider to tax financial services under VAT. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / am2014 / Taxation / unrestricted

Financial services companies need to create awareness around their value offering of intangible services in the market and use advertising campaigns to achieve this awareness and subsequent sales. The study looks at the starting point in the creation of an advertising campaign i.e. the briefing process between the financial services company and the advertising agency. In this process people from different disciplines and different environments communicate and interact with one another, providing opportunities for misunderstanding and misinterpretation. The brief is taken as the illustrative point in the interaction between the two parties and is posed as the epitome of all communication between these two. By evaluating the communication process the study looks at gaps and provides suggestions on how to best manage this interaction as concluded from insights provided by data acquired through a mixed method incorporating quantitative online surveys and qualitative one-on-one interviews with employees from both the financial services company and the advertising agency. The study furthermore looks at the briefing template as the formal document and "contract" between the financial service company and the advertising agency and proposes the structure and required content for such a brief. The potential pitfalls in each of the proposed sections of the briefing template are investigated in terms of the Service Quality Gap Model; thus leading to a recommended protocol a briefing template along with the management thereof by the financial services company which is the way forward as proposed in the study. / Mini Dissertation (MPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Communication Management / MPhil / Unrestricted

Orientation: The topic of restraint of trade has attracted attention, with significant renewed interest in light of the role it is said to play in contributing to the executive‟s career moves and the protection it offers companies. At the heart of the issue is the perceived unfairness of the contract between the employee signing the contract and the company restraining the employee.Research purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe aspects the restraint of trade within the South African financial services industry.Motivation for the study: The motivation for the study was the development of a deeper understanding of restraint of trade, within the South African context, as the concept became prevalent over the past years with many questions remaining unanswered.Research design approach and method: The research was a qualitative, content study.Main findings/results: The primary finding was that, despite the wide use of such contracts they are not clearly understood, they are still perceived as unfair and are seen as a tool to curb career development.Practical managerial implications: The results suggest that the use of such contracts maybe popular but they are flawed, even though elements such as the period of the contracts and the quantum of payments are known the legal clarity and misunderstanding of these contracts is still an issue.Contribution/value add: The study provides context to Restraint-Of-Trade within a South African framework. It further provides key insight into the perception, misalignment of these contracts to the overall understanding and the aim they are meant to achieve. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Magister Commercii (Industrial Psychology) - MCom(IPS) / Within the past two decades, gender equity has been a major issue in the workplace. Legislation has since been implemented to redress inequalities of the past, which have allowed women to move away from their traditional roles of being child bearers. Although legislation has been implemented by government, the gender equity issue remains a problem since women are still underrepresented in senior management positions. The aim of the study was to understand the experiences of women in top, senior and management positions within the financial services industry in the Western Cape. The gender composition of senior management positons has an impact on the financial performance of an organisation (Campbell, 2007). Thus the importance of female participation in the senior positions. This issue has attracted a growing amount of research, but for the purposes of this research study, the researcher has focused on one industry. The industry chosen for this study was the financial services industry in the Western Cape. Furthermore, a non-probability sampling design was used, based on the method of purposive sampling. Seven participants, namely, women within the financial services industry were selected to participate in the study. For data collection, in-depth interviews were held with each participants. The study design was qualitative in nature and therefore the thematic approach was used to analyse the data. Research has shown that there are various challenges that women within the financial services industry experience. From myths about women in corporate, to stereotyping women with that of the traditional roles of women. The current research findings also indicate that women experience many challenges while trying to move up the corporate ladder within the financial services industry. The findings derived from this study indicate that the financial services industry is a male dominant industry, with respect to senior management roles. This makes it difficult for women to participate in those decision making roles. This research is beneficial to organisations within the financial services industry. This way, the research study may allow organisations within the financial services industry to improve the current issues around gender equity in their respective organisations. The study limitations have also been discussed as well as the recommendations for future studies.

Prior research defines brand orientation as an approach in which the processes of the organization revolve around the creation, development and protection of brand identity in an ongoing interaction with target customers with the aim of achieving lasting competitive advantages in the form of brands (Urde, 1999). This research paper examines how marketing managers perceive corporate brand orientation with a Financial services company, namely Standard Bank Group Limited (Standard Bank) and what influence cross-functional integration has in enhancing the level of brand orientation. The study design was non-experimental and convenience sampling used. The data was collected within the Group and South African marketing functions of Standard Bank both of which are located within South Africa. The survey was delivered to 131 respondents across 30 marketing functions with the unit of analysis being each employee within their respective teams. The research results indicate that cross-functional integration variables of compensation, multifunctional training and cross-functional teams have a positive influence on brand orientation. The findings from this research can contribute to the body of knowledge within the domain of building corporate brand orientation within the financial services industry, specifically with regards to implications for marketing leadership in terms of improving the performance of the marketing department. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Financial services provided by FinTech companies Abstract The diploma thesis focusing on Financial Services provided by FinTech companies aims to provide a comprehensive legal overview of modern issues in the financial market. The financial market has undergone a significant shift in the last decade, especially thanks to new innovative solutions, that are made possible by the rapid technological development of the 20th and 21st century. FinTech companies are often startups which, unlike the traditional financial institutions, have not been and today are still not bound by the pitfalls and strict conditions of the regulatory environment, when creating their business model and their products. FinTech companies little by little began to benefit from these regulatory gaps and gradually brought new types of financial services to financial market customers, which in certain situations may pose a very dangerous risk to the financial market and its stability. The diploma thesis is divided into three chapters and tries to give a comprehensive description of how technologies have influenced the world of finance throughout history, what legislation currently affects FinTech and what approach is taken by individual states and the European Union. The first chapter focuses primarily on the complete foundations of...

No / The article offers information on expansion of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the financial services industry. Topics include Financial institutions see in it more opportunities for efficiency generation, improved profitability, and opportunities for differentiation for the building of competitive advantages; and develop, to improve reporting, and compliance processes.