As I am sitting in my study in thought, processing the recent events in our country, I cannot help to see the irony in the situation.  

Imagine this: the IDA having “CoFI” with “POPI” discussing TCF. While our country is being downgraded to junk status!

This piece of legislation aims to set regulatory parameters, implement revised licensing and authorisations, and set standards of conduct to ensure best outcomes for customers through necessary enforcements and administrative actions.

PoPI has been a topic of much interest for some time now, with a date for final implementation yet to be announced. We know that Pansy Tlakula has been appointed as South Africa’s first information regulator, that the time for playing around is over, and that we will need to take action.

The main purpose of PoPI is exactly that – the protection of personal information to prevent your information (or that of your customers), to be used for commercial reasons, resale or any other reason whatsoever, without your written approval.

Using a customer’s personal information without their approval could cause damage or inconvenience to that customer. It could even lead to fraud if the information is not properly protected. The act and regulations even deal with how information you already have must be destroyed.

I do believe that when PoPI is legislated we will be given a grace period to become fully compliant.

TCF and the six outcomes have been with us for quite a while and the outcomes-based regulatory approach ensures that specific and clear fairness outcomes are delivered to consumers by financial institutions.

South Africa was downgraded to junk status just over a month ago. What impact has this had on us?

Although the Rand fell to a low of R13.92 to the Dollar immediately after the downgrade, recovered to around R13.40. We have had a petrol price increase, yet it is expected that due to low oil prices the price of petrol will not increase drastically in the months to come. 

Yes, we had one of the worst new vehicle sales records for the month of April 2017, but I still believe that it is not all doom and gloom. In my opinion, to expect that we are heading for a recession due to our downgrade is being pessimistic.

Good luck for the month ahead, I wish you lots of deliveries.

All the best, until next time,