COMESA Summit ends, new chair appointed

[Gregory Gondwe] The 15th COMESA (Common Market for East and Southern Africa) Summit of Heads of State and Governments came to an end on Saturday 15 October 2011 with the announcement of the newly appointed chairman of COMESA, Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika. 17 Oct 2011 12:19

The new savvy British consumer

LONDON, UK: There's a change taking place in the UK as consumers start taking control of when, how and where they shop. Power is shifting from retailers to consumers and retailers need to adapt to survive. The retail space is ever changing and evolving- the role of social media, mobile & TV continues to grow, as will innovation in the sector. 21 Apr 2011 07:47

New study discovers link between social media popularity, stock prices

NEW YORK, US: A new study conducted by a researcher at Pace University, in association with Famecount.com, has looked at the link between social media popularity of key brands and their respective share prices - and identified a statistically significant correlation. 17 Mar 2011 11:12

Refugees can now own bank accounts

Refugees and asylum permit holders in South Africa will from now on be able apply for bank accounts in the country, the Home Affairs Department announced on Thursday, 11 November 2010. 12 Nov 2010 09:42

Global experts convene in SA to discuss intellectual property, innovation

South Africa and other developing countries are in hot debate about how best to grow their economies through innovation and the development of intellectual property. 7 Sep 2011 11:17

Growth of mass affluent population to return across all markets

LONDON, UK: Datamonitor predicts that the number of mass affluent consumers (those with more than US$50 000* in onshore liquid assets) will return to growth in established markets** after declining during the recession. The client base will continue to rise in emerging markets, with particularly strong growth for countries such as Singapore. 5 Apr 2011 08:55

Western Union offers no-fee money transfers to Japan

ENGLEWOOD, US: Western Union Company, a leader in global payment services, in cooperation with its agents, has activated a limited-time "No Transfer Fee"* program for money-transfers sent to Japan from participating agent locations around the world. 18 Mar 2011 07:16

Emerging auto insurance and aggregator sites attracting meaningful market share

RESTON, US: comScore, Inc, a leader in measuring the digital world, has announced the availability of an expanded competitive set of insurers and aggregator sites for its online auto insurance benchmarker. In Q4 2010, these additional sites accounted for 724 000 submitted quotes, making up 8% of quotes submitted online. 8 Mar 2011 09:58

Fees could alienate online bill pay users

CHICAGO, US: Online banking continues to grow in popularity, and according to Mintel, 79% of consumers visit their banks' online website on a daily or weekly basis. However, it seems that loyalty to online banking would vanish if the service wasn't complimentary, as just less than 80% of consumers would stop using their banks online bill pay services if their financial institutions charged a monthly fee. 24 Feb 2011 08:22

Financial services CEOs look to emerging markets to feed growth aspirations

LONDON, UK: Financial services companies need to look far beyond their domestic markets if they are to achieve their ambitious growth aspirations. This is according to the 14th annual PwC Global CEO Survey, which shows CEOs of financial services companies believe emerging markets are more important than developed markets to their organisation's future. 16 Feb 2011 11:21

Deloitte Consumer Spending Index continues steady decline in January

NEW YORK, US: The Deloitte Consumer Spending Index (the Index) continued to decline in January, hitting its lowest level since August 2009. The Index attempts to track consumer cash flow as an indicator of future consumer spending. 15 Feb 2011 10:43

Anti-corruption Act scuppers deals

NEW YORK, US: According to results of Deloitte's annual Look Before You Leap survey of corporate executives, investment bankers, private equity executives and hedge fund managers, 63% of respondents reported that the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and anti-corruption issues caused their companies to renegotiate or pull out of planned business relationships, mergers or acquisitions over the last three years. 8 Feb 2011 11:48

Private sector deals send positive signal to financial services sector despite falling values

LONDON, UK: While deal values in the financial services sector dropped off in the final quarter of last year, PwC experts believe that this decline will not change the positive trend of increasing mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity. 4 Feb 2011 06:09