Different forms of social responsibility practices have been prevalent in South Africa. Most of South African companies decided to bear the minimum costs when it comes to contributing to society. An improved version of social responsibility evolved since the transition in the 1990’s and South Africa’s re-integration into the global economy after lifting of economic sanctions. This came about after decades of large profit margins enjoyed by South African companies at the expense of low labour costs that led to inequalities in income distribution in South Africa. The social responsibility involvement/programmes are more or less the same across similar companies in South Africa. The reasons for business engaging in social responsibility are varied, ranging from poverty alleviation to sustainable development of society. Executives started to buy into the idea that social responsibility can be beneficial to the business and society. The changing attitudes regarding the role of business in society have made social responsibility an increasingly prominent issue over the past decades, but to decide on which projects will have a mutually beneficial impact on society and business, was one of the major challenges that companies have to face. It is against this background that the researcher investigated and compared the social responsibility practices of two selected financial institutions. The focus was on the practices of the two financial institutions in selecting targets for socially responsible involvement. This problem was supported by six secondary problems. The researcher first did a literature study to place social responsibility in perspective. The main purpose of the literature study was to identify and suggest how companies select the targets for said responsible involvement. An empirical investigation was conducted, focusing on Standard Bank and ABSA Bank. The demarcation of the study was restricted to these organisations as the assumption was made that their social responsibility practices are representative of the social responsibility practices of the financial services industry. The empirical study showed that the organisations under review did not have specific criteria that guide their selection of targets for social responsibility involvement. This highlighted an area of improvement on the social responsibility practices. The results of the literature study and the empirical investigation indicated that to be proactive in the field of social responsibility, criteria for selecting targets should be set and social responsibility practices should be linked to the corporate objectives and should form part of the strategic planning process. An affirmative approach to social responsibility will ensure that the two financial institutions be perceived as socially responsible.

The poor need a range of financial services to cope with shocks, to manage day-to-day transactions, and to grasp business opportunities, among others. To be successful in reaching the poor, microfinance institutions should offer products that meet the poor’s needs. Product design, therefore, is becoming a very important topic. “Behavioral” product design pinpoints the importance of individuals’ behavioral anomalies, such as procrastination behavior and lack of self-control. Financial products are seen as commitment devices to help individuals diverting money from immediate consumption to savings and investment.<p>This doctoral thesis contributes to this recent research stream by first surveying the literature on product design in microfinance, and then providing an empirical and a theoretical contribution. Precisely, the thesis is structured in four chapters. Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 are both reviewing the literature. Chapter 1, titled “Product Flexibility in Microfinance: A Survey”, reviews the academic literature on product flexibility in microfinance and offers a categorization scheme of flexible microfinance products. Chapter 2, titled “Innovative Flexible Products in Microfinance”, scrutinizes nine real-life practices covering microcredit, micro-savings and micro-insurance services that mix flexible features and commitment devices. Chapter 3, titled “The Debt Puzzle in Dhaka’s Slums: Do Liquidity Needs Explain Co-Holding?”, examines the use of flexible savings-and-loan accounts by SafeSave’s clients and tests whether the need for liquidity explains why the poor save and borrow simultaneously. Lastly, Chapter 4, titled “Having it Both Ways: A Theory of the Banking Firm with Time-consistent and Time-inconsistent Depositors,” proposes a theoretical model to determine the liquidity premium offered by a monopolistic bank to a pool of depositors composed of time-consistent and time-inconsistent agents. / Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree: Doctor of Philosophy (Business Administration), Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2017. / Although numerous articles have been published globally on microfinance (MF), essentially highlighting the need to regulate microfinance institutions (MFIs), none of these, to the knowledge of the researcher, specifically explore in profundity the formulation process of financial monitoring policies (FMPs), their implementation, and the challenges MFIs encounter in implementing these policies. The wave of distressed and failing of MFIs in Ghana and the loss of hard-earned thrift deposits of the poor, therefore demand for this investigation. This study consequently viaducts the gap and contributes to the debate by reviewing the specific financial policies pertaining to MFIs, their formulation, implementation of such policies, and the challenges MFIs encounter relating to those policies. Also introduced into the MF research arena, is the concept of implementation theory to move knowledge frontier forward. Further, the outcome will be of particular relevance to all emerging economies who view MFls as praxis for poverty alleviation, employment creation and addressing inequality. The study adopted a mixed research approach, with both qualitative and quantitative data gathered from a sample of 65 MFIs in Accra through a self-administered, Likert-scaled questionnaire. Data were analysed using SPSS version 24.0, with results presented in frequency tables, figures, correlation tables, and cross-tabulations. The findings reveal that FMPs exist for MFIs in Ghana – Accra, particularly. However, regulation formulation is shown to be lopsided, with implementation of FMPs, and monitoring and supervision thereof, also found to be deficient. The results further indicate that using minimum capital as a tool to ensuring efficiency in the sector, is a major obstacle to overcome to create an impetus for regulatory non-compliance. Based on the findings, the research recommends consideration by policymakers and MFI monitoring units to create a semi-autonomous institution, the National Microfinance Promotion Authority, to regulate and supervise the MFIs in Ghana. It is also recommended that research focus be shifted to policy implementation regarding MF operations. / D

The research for this study was guided by the question on whether the financial inclusion improvement strategies of the South African government adequately address the financial inclusion targets, as set out in the National Development Plan. This descriptive non-empirical study was conducted by means of a literature review. The secondary data used for the study were collected from a number of sources, namely: (i) the 2015 Brookings Financial and Digital Inclusion Project report; (ii) the 2014 Global Findex survey; (iii) the InterMedia surveys; (iv) Financial Access surveys; (v) various national FinScope surveys; and (iv) a number of working papers of the World Bank related to financial inclusion. The data revealed that South Africa, with its sophisticated financial sector, was early to adopt policies and initiatives to advance financial inclusion and the country has experienced a noticeable increase in financial inclusion from 61% in 2004 to 87% in 2015. South Africa is 3% away from its National Development Plan goal of 90% financial inclusion by 2030. This indicates that overall, the financial inclusion initiatives adopted by the South African government were successful.

The rise of microfinance in South Africa as a development trajectory has dismissed ideas that small business enterprises have no significant contribution to the economic growth and development of the country. The primary objective of the study is to assess the impact of microfinance service providers on the success and sustainability of small business enterprises in the Nelson Mandela Bay. By applying descriptive statistics, 2 ordinary least square regression analyses as well as correlation matrix; the results reveal that microfinance has a positive and significant impact on the success and sustainability on small business enterprises in the Nelson Mandela Bay. The research findings hold a variety of implications for Government and policymakers. The study recommends that the microfinance sector must be under good governance through the microfinance regulatory and supervisory structures, since the sector contributes a great deal towards one of the most important objectives of the Post-Apartheid Government. Further, small business entrepreneurs must be well exposed to the requirements, standards and norms which govern the financial sector. This is particularly important in terms of the National Credit Act provisions.

Financial regulation is a subject that is more often than not regarded as distant and yet another level of bureaucracy that has to be endured by both the public and private sectors. The significance of creating and maintaining an efficient and effective system to regulate financial markets, financial institutions and financial service providers is a salient feature in the development of a country’s economic health. The recent global economic crises of 2007/2008 and the economic hurdles accompanying those events are perhaps the most dramatic instances of how necessary the implementation of efficient and effective financial regulation is. The international financial system has experienced a retinue of changes in the last two decades. One of the main challenges of financial regulators has been to keep abreast of as well as adapt to these changes, which are of an international nature. In a majority of countries, the financial sector is one of the most intensely regulated and supervised industries. Over a period of time, it has become evident that regulatory arrangements have a formidable impact on: i. The size, structure and efficiency of a financial system; ii. The business operations of financial institutions and markets; iii. Competitive conditions both overall and between sub-sectors of the system. The impact of regulation can either be stagnant or progressive; this depends on how the objectives of regulation are defined and how efficiently regulatory arrangements are related to their objectives. The issue at hand is to engage regulatory institutions, structures and mechanisms for supervision and enforcement need to be implemented because they are pertinent to the formal regulatory requirements in the overall regulatory regime. Effective financial regulation would be unable to exert its objectives in the absence of efficient supervision and enforcement. In numerous countries the institutional structure of regulation has experienced change or is in the process of change. Different models of institutional structure are availed such as the single/consolidated model, the twin-peak model and the multiple regulator model. For example, the United Kingdom has embraced the single/consolidated regulator model while Australia has employed the twin-peak regulator model. Kenya operates on the multiple regulator model. This report addresses the role of financial regulators in the Kenyan economy. The objectives of the research are to: Provide comprehensive information about the theory and practice of financial regulation; Identify the financial regulators in Kenya and define their roles; Address the issue of multiple regulators and the duplicity of roles; Discuss international trends in regulation and examine different regulatory regimes; Consider the viability of a single/consolidated regulatory regime in Kenya; Suggest a possible future regulatory regime for Kenya and identify the key issues associated with such a regime; Suggest areas for further investigation and research.The approach of this report will constitute the following: Chapter 1 discusses the rationale for the research, objectives, scope and scale of the research, preliminary literature review and the research methods to be employed. Chapter 2 focuses on financial regulatory systems in general as well as an extensive analysis of financial regulators in Kenya. Chapter 3 combines the research methods employed and also contains a comparative analysis of the regulatory regime. Chapter 4 examines the findings of the research, the lessons learnt and the regulatory responses. Chapter 5 includes recommendations towards improvement of regulatory systems and an executive summary of outstanding policy issues and priorities in Kenyan financial regulation.

A sound financial system is the cornerstone of any country‘s economy. As South Africa has always been deemed to have a sound legal framework pertaining to the financial market, it has never faced the situation where it had to extensively review its entire legal framework. However, the recent global economic meltdown left policy makers, internationally, questioning the soundness of their financial systems and South Africa has been no exception. This dissertation provides an overview of the legal framework pertaining to selected segments of the financial market. This legal framework is then tested against certain selected issues highlighted by the global economic meltdown in order to establish whether it was and still is sufficiently robust to effectively negotiate these challenges. In order to deal with the selected segments of the legal framework pertaining to the financial market as comprehensively as possible, the selected segments for the purposes of this dissertation include the capital market, the money market and the derivative market. This dissertation also evaluates the impact of other recent domestic developments pertaining to securities settlement in South Africa. These developments include the recently promulgated Companies Act 71 of 2008 and the currently drafted Participant Failure Manual. This dissertation suggests that the Companies Act 71 of 2008 will have a significant impact on securities settlement. It is recommended that companies, holders of uncertificated securities and holders of beneficial interests in uncertificated securities familiarise themselves with their revised rights and obligations in order to, amongst other things, ensure compliance with this new legislative framework. This dissertation reveals that, even though our financial system has been found to be fundamentally sound and thus far have dealt with the global economic meltdown quite well, legislative reform to conform to international best practice is imperative. It is recommended that policy makers should strive to ensure that the South African legal framework pertaining to the financial market is sufficiently aligned with the principles, methodologies and recommendations as provided for by the international institutions providing best practice. The highlighted areas of legislative reform include the legal frameworks pertaining to credit rating agencies, investor due diligence, ix crisis management tools, compensation structures, accounting and valuations standards, issuer transparency, market transparency and risk management. This dissertation highlights that a significant amount of legislative amendments and endorsements by the relevant regulators and the Master of the Court are required for the successful integration of the Participant Failure Manual into the legal framework pertaining to the financial market. If, when and how the notion of Participant Failure will be accepted and regulated by the relevant regulators, without creating a conflict of interest, remains a question to be answered.

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This diploma thesis deals with taxation of financial institutions with focus on banking sector in the Czech Republic. The aim is to analyze effective tax rate of the Czech banks, define issues that might have influenced the evolution of the effective tax rate and make comparison with effective tax rate of other Czech corporations and European banks. The first chapter characterizes financial institutions, development of taxation of the financial sector and briefly describes the global financial crises. In the next chapter specifics of the value added tax and corporate income tax are described from the point of view of the financial institutions according to the Czech law followed by description of the financial transactions tax and financial activities tax. In the third chapter is analyzed effective tax rate of the Czech banks for period from 2007 to 2014 based on data gained from annual reports of the analyzed banks. Data for comparison of the effective rates of Czech and European banks were gained from the database S&P Capital IQ. In the conclusion of the thesis are analyzed reasons that might have caused changes in the effective tax rate in the banking sector.

This work deals with the insurance of the banking products, i.e. with the insurance products, which explicitly insure or are closely connected to some banking product. Therefore, an interaction of banking and insurance activities is present in this area of insurance. The overview of both of the financial institutions' activities opens this thesis in order to explain the interaction between the activities of banks and insurance companies. Possible ways of integration of this interaction, which allowed increased efficiency, follow the opening introduction. Bancassurance as a way of selling insurance through banks is explained in a separate part. After a short overview of the banking products, the thesis is completed by the analysis of the key insurances of them.