D.Econ. / Uncertainty is an element that pervades the very existence of man. As one moves through time, almost every decision that one takes is associated with some degree of uncertainty. As one departs from one moment in time to another, one's journey comprises choices and expectations relating to all matters of life. A choice is made when one decides to adopt one or more courses of action from a set of available alternatives. The uncertainty associated with each decision is not merely whether or not the correct choice was made, but more in terms of whether or not the expected outcome will be realised. The time between the moment a decision is made and the future moment in which the outcome is expected to be realised, is permeated with the essence of uncertainty.

Abstarct not available. / Thesis (MBA)-University of Natal, Durban, 2002.

The objective of this research proposal is to explore the extent to which credit derivatives can be used effectively by domestic financial institutions, in particular, Commercial Banks to hedge the credit risk associated with lending to the Small, Medium and Micro enterprise (SMME) market segment, thereby making lending to this market segment an attractive and viable banking proposition. The financial services sector in South Africa has come under severe criticism from Government, trade unions and the unbanked, low income earners for not fulfilling their social responsibility, in terms of, not banking the Small, Medium and Micro enterprise (SMME) customer base. In particular, financial institutions have been accused of ignoring or not giving sufficient attention to the financial/credit needs of this market segment. These parties have argued that many of the domestic financial institutions are applying standard credit criteria to this market segment, which they feel is incorrect. This has often resulted in SMME's having their requests for credit facilities declined by domestic financial institutions and then having to resort to approaching unscrupulous "loan sharks" for credit facilities, which facilities are often made available to them at exorbitant interest rates. The alleged reluctance on the part of domestic financial services institutions to make available credit facilities, in the form of start-up business loans and asset-based finance to the SMME segment has possibly hindered economic growth, productivity, employment and resulted indirectly in a host of other social anomalies. Alister Ruiters of the Department of Trade and Industry has been publicly vociferous in his attack on domestic financial institutions (Business Day, August18, 1999). It would appear these financial institutions are only prepared to do business with this market segment in partnership with Government, where Government bears a large proportion of the risk by providing guarantees or indemnities on behalf of the client. Examples of such guarantees include Khula and Sizabantu guarantees issued by agencies controlled within the ambit of the Department of Trade and Industry. Financial service institutions have defended their actions by countering that the credit risk attached to making loans available to the SMME market segment is often unacceptable to them. Many of these potential clients are characterised by adverse credit records, show little stability, in terms of, employment and domicilium and often do not have any tangible collateral available to support their loan requests. That is, the risk from lending to this market segment far outweighs the potential returns. Further, these financial institutions have argued that with South Africa having been accepted into the international fold and following the accelerated pace of globalisation, new markets have opened up for their shareholders. Hence, shareholders are requiring improved returns (capital gains and/or dividends); else they are at liberty to move their funds to other investment destinations. The pressure on domestic financial institutions to deliver consistently better returns on equity has been and continues to be a difficult one. This is exacerbated by the increasing competitive pressure from both retail competitors who are now offering financial services, such as Pick 'n Pay Financial Services, Woolworth's, and foreign financial institutions, who have entered the domestic scene. For many of the retail competitors the offering of financial services is seen merely as an extension of their product line. Existing infrastructure, in the form of, branches /outlets and technology are largely already in place. Further, they are not bound by the same liquidity reserve requirements imposed by the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), as are the domestic financial institutions they now compete against. Hence, the retail competitors' profit margins are likely to be higher. Further, as many of the foreign financial institutions are not constrained by the same social responsibility obligations local financial institutions face and as they have not invested substantially in branch networks and other infrastructure in South Africa, their profit margins are higher and hence their returns on equity is likely to be significantly higher than the domestic financial institutions. Following the increasing popularity of Credit Derivatives in countries, such as, the United States of America, the United Kingdom and India, it is my intention to explore whether this instrument can be used effectively by domestic financial institutions as an hedging tool to insure against what they might otherwise consider unacceptable risk in the SMME market segment. That is, will the use of credit derivatives make the lending of funds to this client base an acceptable or attractive proposition to domestic financial institutions. However, we first need to define credit risk and credit derivatives before we proceed further. Creditex (Commentary, May 2001) defines credit risk as: "the risk of loss following default. " PriceWaterhouseCoopers defines a credit derivative as : "a credit risk management instrument that allows a financial institution to transfer credit risk to another party". Having, in simple terms, defined what we mean by credit risk and credit derivatives, we proceed by suggesting how credit derivatives can be used as an effective hedging tool and also some of the possible shortcomings that may be associated with the use of credit derivatives in South Africa. Cheow and Chiu (Managing Credit Risks, May 23,2001) suggest credit derivatives have the potential to transform the way in which Commercial Banks do business. The impact of credit derivatives is likely to result in changes in Bank's operating and credit models of assessment, pricing policies and offer insight into how products and services may be developed and implemented. Traditionally Banks appear to have been involved in all aspects of lending from origination to administration, monitoring and collection. These authors suggest the resulting credit model emanating from the use of credit derivatives is likely to only concentrate on origination of the loan with the view of later selling-off the book itself or insuring the credit risk. This latter alternative involves credit derivatives. We turn our attention to highlighting some possible constraints to the effective use of credit derivatives in South Africa. These are as follows :  Lack of effective infrastructure  Lack of liquidity  Lack Of Transparency  Restrictive Central Bank regulations and exchange controls  limited number of large financial institutions. / Thesis (MBA)-University of Natal, Durban, 2002.

Market abuse practices may directly or indirectly give rise to diverse problems such as inaccurate stock market prices, low public investor confidence, reduced market integrity and poor efficiency in the affected financial markets. This thesis reveals that three major forms of market abuse, namely insider trading, prohibited trading practices (trade-based market manipulation) and the making or publication of false, misleading or deceptive statements, promises and forecasts relating to listed securities (disclosure-based market manipulation) are prohibited in South Africa. However, although South Africa has had market abuse legislation for about 30 years, and must be commended for its great effort to enhance market integrity by combating market abuse practices, the enforcement of such legislation is still problematic. Moreover, in spite of the fact that there is no empirical data or accurate figures quantifying the occurrence and extent of market abuse activities in the South African financial markets, this thesis submits that market abuse practices are still to be completely eradicated. Accordingly, this thesis suggests that the aforementioned problem might have been aggravated by inter alia, various gaps, flaws and/or inconsistent implementation and enforcement of the market abuse legislation in South Africa. To this end, the anti-market abuse enforcement framework under the Securities Services Act 36 of 2004 is analysed to investigate its adequacy. The co-operation and role of the Financial Services Board, the courts, the Directorate of Market Abuse and other relevant stakeholders is also examined and discussed. Moreover, the co-operation between the Financial Services Board and similar international agencies is discussed to gauge its effectiveness in relation to the combating of cross-border market abuse practices. The adequacy of the awareness and preventative measures in place to curb market abuse practices is also investigated to determine whether such measures are robust enough to combat other new challenges that were posed by the 2007 to 2009 global financial crisis. Furthermore, a comparative analysis is undertaken of the enforcement of the market abuse prohibition in other jurisdictions, namely the United States of America, the United Kingdom, the European Union and Australia. This was done to investigate the relevant lessons that can be learnt or adopted from these jurisdictions. The thesis further discusses the adequacy of the recently introduced provisions of the Financial Markets Bill as well as the subsequent market abuse provisions of the Financial Markets Bill 2012. The thesis highlights that the aforementioned Bills are positive attempts by the policy makers to improve the enforcement of the market abuse provisions in South Africa. Nonetheless, the thesis reveals that most of the shortcomings contained in the Securities Services Act 36 of 2004 were duplicated in the Financial Markets Bill and the Financial Markets Bill 2012. In light of this, it remains to be seen whether the market abuse provisions contained in the Financial Markets Bill and/or the Financial Markets Bill 2012 will improve the combating of market abuse practices in South Africa. Consequently, it is hoped that the relevant market abuse provisions of the Securities Services Act 36 of 2004, the Financial Markets Bill and/or the Financial Markets Bill 2012 will be comprehensively reviewed in regard to the recommendations made in this thesis. To this end, the thesis proposes a viable anti-market abuse model and policy framework and sets out both policy objectives and provisions which policy makers could use to strengthen some of the market abuse provisions in South Africa.

Commercial mortgage-backed securitisation (CMBS) is an important development in the South African property finance field. This study explains the characteristics; structure and structuring; advantages, disadvantages and risks; and legal and regulatory aspects of CMBS. Four CMBS programmes have been launched in South Africa to date (August 2006) all of which have been originated by listed Property Loan Stock (PLS) companies. The unique features of the four programmes were examined and the impact on their originators and the listed property sector was analysed. The main participants in the South African CMBS industry were interviewed. CMBS has acted as a catalyst for greater competition between banks resulting in lower interest rates on bank debt and the creation of new property financing products. The introduction of CMBS has benefited not only the four originating PLS companies, but also had a positive impact on the entire listed property sector. / Business Management / M. Com. (Business Management)

Commercial mortgage-backed securitisation (CMBS) is an important development in the South African property finance field. This study explains the characteristics; structure and structuring; advantages, disadvantages and risks; and legal and regulatory aspects of CMBS. Four CMBS programmes have been launched in South Africa to date (August 2006) all of which have been originated by listed Property Loan Stock (PLS) companies. The unique features of the four programmes were examined and the impact on their originators and the listed property sector was analysed. The main participants in the South African CMBS industry were interviewed. CMBS has acted as a catalyst for greater competition between banks resulting in lower interest rates on bank debt and the creation of new property financing products. The introduction of CMBS has benefited not only the four originating PLS companies, but also had a positive impact on the entire listed property sector. / Business Management / M. Com. (Business Management)

LL.M. / Die doel van hierdie verhandeling is om die reguleringsisteem in Suid-Afrika te beskryf soos wat dit betrekking het op termynkontrakte. Termynkontrakte vorm deel van 'n groep finansiele instrumente algemeen bekend as afgeleide instrumente. Die term 'afgeleide instrumente' is 'n generiese begrip wat gebruik word om verskeie finansiele instrumente te beskryf wie se waarde afgelei word van 'n onderliggende kommoditeit, wisselkoers of indeks. Termynkontrakte word op die Suid-Afrikaanse termynbeurs (SATEB) verhandel. Ter inleiding sal die sleutelaspekte rondom termynkontrakte en termynhandel kortliks bespreek word ten einde die leser 'n oorsig te bied. Die aspekte word egter in die loop van die verhandeling, onder die toepaslike hoofstukke, meer volledige verduidelik.

Insider trading is one of the practices that (directly or indirectly) lead to a host of problems for example inaccurate stock market prices, high inflation, reduced public investor confidence, misrepresentation and non disclosure of material facts relating to securities and financial instruments. Again it reduces efficiency in the affected companies and eventually leads to economic underperformance. The researcher observed that the South African insider trading regulatory framework has some gaps and flaws which need to be adequately addressed to ensure efficient and stable financial markets. Therefore, the aim of this research is to provide a clear roadmap for an effective, efficient, adequate and internationally competitive insider trading regulatory framework in South Africa. In order to achieve the above stated aim, the historical development of the regulation insider trading is critically analyzed. The effectiveness and adequacy of the Insider Trading Act, 135 of 1998 is also discussed. Furthermore, the prohibition of insider trading under Securities Services Act, 36 of 2004 is explored and analyzed to investigate its adequacy. The role of the Financial Services Board, the Courts and the Directorate for Market Abuse is also scrutinized extensively. Moreover, a comparative analysis is undertaken of the regulation of insider trading in other jurisdictions of United States of America, Canada and Australia. This is done to investigate any lessons that can be learnt or adopted from these jurisdictions. The researcher strongly contends that having the best insider trading laws on paper alone will not cure the insider trading problem. What is required are adequate laws that are enforced effectively in South African courts. Therefore an adequate insider trading regulatory framework must be put in place to improve the efficiency of South African financial markets, to maintain a stable economy, combat misrepresentation and non disclosure of material facts in transactions relating to securities. The researcher has attempted to state the law as at 31 August 2007.

Management of an engineering consultancy unit in the Eastern Cape Province is concerned about the costs incurred by project managers and specialist engineers pursuing tender opportunities that are not feasible. Annual losses in this unit due to unsuccessful tenders amounts to R2,5 million annually, which equates to about 12% of the revenue generated by the unit. The aim of the research study is to assist the consulting engineering firm by investigating and identifying the key determinants for making the decision of whether to bid on a particular tender opportunity. The study includes an assessment of relevant literature, academia and text to investigate key factors that could influence the decision to bid on tenders from which research questions and appropriate theories were drawn. Based on the research questions and theories that emanated from the literature, the study also includes the assessment of primary data through the administration of a structured questionnaire. The questionnaire is empirically analysed within the positivistic research paradigm through the use of descriptive and inferential statistics. Conclusions are drawn and recommendations are made based on the findings of the administered questionnaire.

Thesis (MComm (Statistics and Actuarial Science))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / In recent times many theories have surfaced posing challenging threats to the Efficient Market Hypothesis. We are entering an exciting era of financial economics fueled by the urge to have a better understanding of the intricate workings of financial markets. Many studies are emerging that investigate the relationship between stock market predictability and efficiency. This paper studies the existence of calendar-based patterns in equity returns, price momentum and earnings momentum in the South African securities market. These phenomena are commonly referred to in the literature as security market imperfections, financial market puzzles and market anomalies. We provide evidence that suggests that they do exist in the South African context, which is consistent with findings in various international markets. A vast number of papers on the subject exist in the international arena. However, very few empirical studies on the South African market can be found in the public domain. We aim to contribute to the literature by investigating the South African case.