The seasonally adjusted Absa Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose by 2.2 points to reach 47.2 index points in April. This was the first increase after three months of declines in the headline PMI. However, the PMI remains below the neutral 50-point mark and is more or less in line with the average recorded in the first quarter of 2019. This means that factory conditions stabilised at a fairly depressed level at the start of the second quarter.

The major subcomponents of the PMI paint a mixed picture of underlying conditions. Two of the indices improved compared to March, while three declined. Indeed, only the index tracking suppliers’ performance came in above the neutral 50-point mark at 53.4 points in April. The business activity and new sales orders indices recorded notable increases in April, but both remained in contractionary terrain. Some respondents reported an improvement in export orders which may have supported overall demand, providing a boost to output. In contrast, the inventories index slumped in April and fell to 42.5 points, which is more than ten points below a recent high reached in February. The employment index also moved lower to reach 41.9, which is 4.5 points below the average recorded during the first quarter.

Respondents turned slightly more optimistic about business conditions in six months’ time. The index tracking expectations rose to 62.3 points in April. The lack of load shedding during the month may have supported the slight improvement in sentiment.

The purchasing price index declined slightly compared to March. The deceleration in cost increases may have been supported by the slightly stronger rand exchange rate. Brent crude oil prices, however, rose during the month. Fortunately, the rise in international diesel prices was countered by the stronger rand, which means that the local diesel price remains unchanged in May.

• PMI Infographic April 2019

Statement regarding COMPETITION TRIBUNAL case

On 17 February 2017, the Competition Commission of South Africa announced that it had decided to refer several banks (foreign currency traders) to the Competition Tribunal for prosecution. While the list included Absa Bank, the Commission also stated that it would not be imposing a fine or any other sanction against Absa.

In March 2017 the former Chief Executive Officer of Absa, Maria Ramos, explained in her annual results speech that the two Absa employees implicated in the case had been suspended to face disciplinary action. “Those who contravened our rules will be held accountable,” she said at the time.

In Absa’s view, this is consistent with Absa’s values, and Ms Ramos insisted it was necessary for Absa to apologize even though there were only two employees involved. It was the right thing to do.

In recent times, there have been public statements by some public figures accusing Absa’s former CEO of having been involved in “manipulating the rand”, and calling for her prosecution. Such statements are untrue and misleading. The Competition Commission in its submission to the Competition Tribunal named the individuals implicated, and Ms Ramos was not one of them.

Instead, Ms Ramos ensured that Absa’s internal investigation was thorough and surfaced all the facts needed to approach the authorities and offer Absa’s assistance. This led to the Competition Commission’s own investigation. Absa continues to cooperate in full with the Competition Commission during the Competition Tribunal phase.

It is therefore untrue and misleading to suggest that Ms Ramos has not acted above board or that the authorities have taken no action in this matter.

While they involved foreign currency trading, the transgressions being prosecuted at the Competition Tribunal have never determined the Rand’s overall valuation as alleged in some statements.

The Competition Tribunal process is ongoing.

Absa Group successfully migrates subsidiaries’ banking platform from UK to South Africa

Absa Group Limited today announced that it has successfully migrated the banking platform used by six of its African subsidiaries – in Botswana, Ghana, Mauritius, Barclays Tanzania, Seychelles and Zambia – from Barclays Plc’s data centre in the United Kingdom to Absa’s data centre in South Africa.

The migration, which took place during 12 to 14 April, entailed moving customer transaction-processing capability and data from IT systems owned and housed by Barclays to systems owned by Absa in South Africa.

During the migration, which is part of Absa Group’s separation from Barclays PLC, banking services were temporarily unavailable but customers had been informed in advance so they could make alternative arrangements. Normal operations resumed on Monday, 15 April, with all branches open and all digital channels and ATM services fully restored.

“The successful completion of the project, which was large and complex and one of our key Platinum projects, is another significant milestone in Absa’s separation from Barclays, due for completion in June 2020,” said Paul O’Flaherty, Chief Executive: Engineering Services at Absa Group. “This demonstrates our commitment and capability in ensuring an orderly separation.”

The migration unlocks a number of benefits, including an upgrade of the bank’s hardware infrastructure, enhanced resilience and preparation of systems in line with Absa’s Application Programming Interface (API) strategy.

In addition, knowledge transfer from the Barclays Plc technical team to local resources will enable additional flexibility and scalability, and reduce a number of risks.

Previous milestones in the separation programme include the launch of Absa’s new business strategy in March 2018, achieving regulatory deconsolidation in June 2018 and launching a refreshed brand in July 2018, among other developments.

Johannesburg – Absa Group Limited has stepped up efforts to combat a recent spike in illicit debit orders and will file criminal charges against those suspected of being responsible. This will be done in conjunction with the Payments Association of South Africa (Pasa) and the South African Banking Risk and Information Centre.

Ahead of the full implementation of DebiCheck, an industry-wide initiative driven by Pasa, fraudsters have increased their efforts to defraud as many banked customers as possible.

The modus operandi is to put through debit orders, for which they have no mandate, for amounts that will not trigger an SMS notification from banks.

Absa also stops working with those companies found to put through debit orders without mandates, and reports them to Pasa, so they can be black-listed among its members.  Where fraud is found, Absa will reverse transactions to refund defrauded consumers.

In addition, a new risk-based approach to processing debit orders is being implemented, whereby the bank will use its analytics to proactively identify fraudsters based on their behavior.

Absa Wealth Management has won several first places in the prestigious Euromoney Private Banking and Wealth Management Survey 2019, testimony to the bank’s excellent Wealth offering.

The survey covers 12 product and client categories on a global and regional basis, ranking results in 56 countries.

Absa Wealth Management ranked first in two categories in South Africa: Ultra High Net Worth Clients (greater than $30 million) and Super Affluent Clients (Between $1 million and $5 million). Across Sub-Saharan Africa, Absa Wealth was ranked first across four categories: Family Office Services (joint first with Stonehage); Ultra High Net Worth Clients, High Net Worth Clients and Super Affluent Clients.

Absa’s Family Office is a multi-family office service that provides high touch banking, leveraged solutions, legal advisory services, traditional and non-traditional investment management on a bespoke basis. It looks after the wealth of high net worth families with net investable assets of more than R100 million.

“Wealth Management today is a global business, with new professionalism to cater for specific client requirements and constantly increasing industry competition. Absa Wealth provides guidance and advice to clients through complex global trade economics and political environments and these awards are testimony of the value we add to our clients,” said Winston Monale, Managing Executive of Absa Wealth Management. “We are very proud to have improved on our achievements from the 2018 Survey in several categories.”

Absa has a presence in 12 countries across Africa as well as an offshore solution in Mauritius which offers banking and investment management.

“We provide a world-class offering and holistic service to our clients across banking, fiduciary and offshore wealth management, with the ability to create bespoke solutions to clients in partnership with broader bank services. Our wealth management business is expanding into the continent – we currently have offices in Kenya and Mauritius and are working hard on our broader African expansion plan, so these results bode well for the future,” Monale said.

More than 2 000 private bankers from 737 institutions took part in the 2019 Euromoney private banking survey, which ranks private banks and wealth management businesses across different categories. Now in its 16^th year, the survey is considered the industry’s leading barometer of the world’s best service and product providers to the world’s wealthy.

Absa and The Digital Academy hosted a technology showcase on 31 January 2019 to unveil solutions and applications built by The Digital Academy interns as part of a six-month programme aimed at helping to bridge a skills shortage in the technology and banking sectors

The Digital Academy has created a real-world and industry-leading platform which allows for young software developers to grow technically and to solve real problems with innovative solutions. The programme is designed to identify top talent and to fast-track opportunities and success for participants. Participants in the internship work in simulated software development environments, which encourage digital product innovation in Africa and allow skills to be aligned to industry demand.

In October 2018, Statistics South Africa revealed that about one in three young South Africans between the ages of 15 and 24 were not employed, enrolled in educational programmes or involved in training initiatives. One of the reasons for this, Stats SA said, is a lack of skills among the youth and, without any assistance or intervention, many of them face the likelihood of long-term unemployment.

It is for this reason that Absa has made a substantial investment in developing young talent in partnership with The Digital Academy. Both organisations contribute to improving the employability of South Africa’s out-of-work youth and promote economic inclusion, while passing on critical skills needed to succeed in the workplace of the future.

“Disruptive technologies and trends such as the Internet of Things, robotics, virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI) are changing the way we live and work. We need to train and develop a skilled workforce that has the ability to take part in the digital revolution, which is one of the reasons that our partnership with The Digital Academy is so important. Furthermore, we believe that together we have the ability to bring possibilities to life and that hand-in-hand we can play a shaping role in society,” says Lee-Anne Wyman, Programme Manager for Young Talent and Citizenship in Absa’s technology division.

Each year, The Digital Academy hosts two intakes of 30 students that are trained for six months. The only prerequisite for joining the programme is for students to have completed Matric, to have a foundation in coding and a passion for technology.

The initiative supports these young interns in their development by building commercially focused prototypes that address local challenges for the local and African market. To date, 178 interns have been placed at Absa as part of the work-based experience component of the internship, of which 12 are current interns, 85 have been placed permanently and 41 have been placed on fixed-term contracts

“We are dedicated to equipping the youth with the tools, knowledge and skills that they need in order to have a voice in the development of products and services of the future. Digital skills are among the most in-demand from employers and programmes such as our rapid internship programme helps to alleviate the problem,” says Gary Bannatyne, Managing Director and co-founder of the Digital Academy.

“Our latest showcase will build on the success Absa and The Digital Academy have already enjoyed in ensuring that we continue to pass on the support and skills that South Africa’s youth need in order to become leaders of the workplaces of tomorrow, as well as to play an active role in their communities,” concludes Wyman.

The World Bank’s Identification for Development (ID4D) Initiative is partnering with WorkInProgress, an Absa Innovation Lab in Cape Town, to host a ‘solveathon’ workshop for the inaugural Mission Billion Challenge.

The Mission Billion Challenge is aimed at surfacing innovative solutions to tackle digital identity issues for the world’s ‘invisible’ one billion people – those who have no way of proving who they are and may therefore be excluded from essential public services and financial products. The challenge will explore how digital identification systems in developing countries can be better designed or adapted to protect people’s privacy and equip them with greater control over their personal data.

The World Bank Group, under its ID4D Initiative, is working to close this gap in order to promote inclusion, opportunities and dignity for the world’s poorest. The challenge seeks practical, cost effective and relevant ideas for developing countries, with total cash prizes of US$100 000, and US$50 000 as the top prize.

“Digital identification has transformational potential for development – making services and the digital economy inclusive, especially for the poor,” said Vyjayanti Desai, Program Manager for the ID4D Initiative. “But people need to trust digital ID systems, beginning with data protection, privacy, and providing people with ultimate control over their data. We launched Mission Billion to find practical ways to achieve this in developing countries.”

The ID4D initiative has partnered with MIT Solve, an initiative of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), to run this challenge and the solveathon on 31 January in Cape Town. Solveathons are highly interactive design workshops aimed at developing and improving great solutions to global challenges.

“We are excited to work with the World Bank Group’s ID4D Initiative on this challenge and leverage MIT Solve’s platform to harness innovation and improve digital identification systems that will ultimately benefit the world’s poorest,” said Matthew Minor, Director of International Programs at MIT Solve. “Affordable identification solutions are basic tools for participation in modern society and exercising basic rights previously inaccessible for these billion ‘invisible’ people. We are incredibly honoured to be hosts to this ground-breaking initiative.”

WorkInProgress is working with the World Bank and MIT Solve to host the workshop on Cape Town.

“This is exactly why WorkInProgress exists – to facilitate and contribute to the broader effort to create tech-based solutions in the financial services sector and beyond,” said Charmaine Lambert, head of WorkInProgress.

The event is open to anyone who believes they have an idea or solution to solve the challenge.

“We urge South Africans who think they have an idea or solution to the Mission Billion Challenge to register to be part of this digital identity solveathon,” said Lambert.

Mission Billion Solveathon Event Details:

Register before the 31^st of January: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mission-billion-challenge-solveathon-cape-town-south-africa-tickets-53926953971

Date:                31^st January
Time:               09:00AM – 13:30PM SAST
Location:          WorkInProgress
Address:           5^th Floor, Block B, Woodstock Exchange Building, 66 Albert Road, Woodstock

Absa’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Maria Ramos will retire at the end of February 2019.  Maria has chosen to retire in February when she turns 60 and will become eligible to do so.

Maria has been Group Chief Executive since 2009. She has led the Group through significant milestones including: acquiring Barclays’s Africa subsidiary banks; the sell-down and the start of separation from Barclays, establishing a new strategy as a standalone financial institution as well as brand refresh in South Africa.

The Board has appointed Mr. René van Wyk as the Interim Chief Executive with effect from 1 March 2019.

René has been a non-executive director on the Boards since February 2017. He was previously the Registrar of Banks within the South African Reserve Bank and retired from that position in May 2016.  René had 19 years of experience with Nedbank, including as Executive Director of Risk for the then listed Nedcor Investment Bank. He was also Chief Executive Officer of Imperial Bank.

René will remain on the Boards and will be classified as an executive director with effect from 1 February 2019.

Absa will announce a permanent appointment to the position of Group Chief Executive in due course, following the finalization of the ongoing process of appointing a new CEO, and the requisite regulatory approvals.

“On behalf of the Boards, I wish to thank Maria for a decade of dedicated service to our Group and wish her all the best in her future endeavours. Absa is a different business to the one Maria joined in 2009. Instead of a South African bank it is now a pan-African financial services provider with a footprint in ten countries across Africa. She will leave the Group with our major priorities on track including the separation from Barclays and the implementation of our corporate strategy”, said Absa Group chairman, Wendy Lucas-Bull.

“It had never been my intention to stay this long, as I have always believed that a CEO’s tenure should allow for a regular refresh. My earlier intentions to step down were curtailed by Barclays PLC’s 2016 decision to sell down their controlling stake, a unique set of circumstances that required continuity. So with my coming 60th birthday I have made the decision to leave the position open for a new Chief Executive to lead the Group on the next leg of its exciting journey”, said Ms Ramos.

“I would like to thank members of the Board and Exco, past and present, for all the support they have provided over the years. I am also grateful for the opportunity to lead an organization with committed colleagues,” she said.