They should charge more. Â Hotels and B&Bs, your uncle’s Seapoint flat, airlines and taxis and the guys polishing shoes at the airport and garden services mowing lawns should all charge more during the world cup. “But they’re profiteering” you cry! Â Well, yes, in a word. But if the incredible expense of building stadia in the…
CEIOPS issued additional guidance around the standard formula for calculating capital requirements in respect of operational risk late last year. Why was a new OpRisk formula needed? The original formula for OpRisk proposed in QIS4 was widely condemned. Complaints included being too simplistic, being insensitive to risk (and basely primarily on business size) and the…
A friend “volunteered” me to answer an insurance question from Aardvark on allocating economic capital across different insurance products. After writing a short response, I received the frighteningly useful message: “Error”. Having written a brief summary of the different techniques used in this really important area, I thought I should use it as a blog…
After my last post around common misunderstandings of how medical schemes operate, I saw a Fin24 article on South African medical schemes that are below the required minimum solvency. What Fin24 readers had to say Nolulamo Matutu from Fin24 writes: Acting CEO of the CMA Patrick Matshidze told MPs 18 schemes have fallen below the…
Socially responsible investing, according to wikipedia, “describes an investment strategy which seeks to maximize both financial returns and social good.” This typically includes not investing in tobacco, breweries, defence contractors, gaming companies, those with poor environmental records or operations in countries known for human rights abuses and so on. There are clear similarities with many of…
photo credit: richardmasoner It’s been widely reported that the Competition Commission has been proving an alledged bicycle cartel. Retailers alledgedly agreed to increase prices to improve margins. This is not a strongly competitive market, which makes it quite an attractive market and good margins and profits should be available. photo credit: shareski Vodacom and Cell…
Statistics are dually known as useful and misleading. Another relevant saying is that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. photo credit: star5112 CAR magazine used to have a short section covering the number of complaints received from readers separated according to car brand. The problem with that sort of analysis is that it ignores…
Profit margins are being squeezed by decreased spending power of consumers. That is true, but it is also not the full story. Competitive pressures, buyer and supplier power dictate sustainable margins in the medium to long term. photo credit: abooth202 Fin24.com has a story this morning around Shoprite’s results and pricing strategy going forward. The…
