Access FX Expertise

How do macro and market themes shape emerging market currencies like the rand – and what does that mean for your business? Find out in this episode of our Coffee Break Commerce podcast.

Sudeera Harduth, Head: Supply Chain Finance Product Management, TxB Trade and Working Capital, Absa CIB, and Shanelle Maharaj, Manager: Operations, TxB Trade and Working Capital, Absa CIB, explain why cash flow remains king for business and unpack the value of bespoke supply chain financing solutions.

Just a few years ago, those driving between Pietermaritzburg and Durban would be confronted by kilometres of empty space between the two cities, an ever-widening highway, and field upon field of sugarcane.

Some may say this is an understatement, but we are experiencing a year of significant economic uncertainty. The less certainty, the greater the financial instability, and as the International Monetary Fund so succinctly explained last year, unknowns raise the risk of financial market volatility alongside a sharp decline in economic growth.

The SARB’s Market Practitioners Group has endorsed that the South African interest rate market adopts a Credit Adjustment Spread (CAS) estimation methodology, consistent with international practices and based on ISDA’s recommendation.

Ask most people about Africa’s trade challenges, and they’ll point to infrastructure—congested ports, unreliable roads, or logistical bottlenecks. But the real constraint isn’t what you can see; it’s what you can’t.

Periods of market turbulence have long been a test of investor conviction. When uncertainty grips financial markets—driven recently by shifting U.S. administrative policies, fluctuating interest rates, or geopolitical tensions—traditional portfolios often reveal their vulnerabilities.

How will the events of 2024 shape currency markets in 2025, and what do businesses need to know about foreign exchange (FX)? Join the vodcast discussion with Mike Keenan, Fixed Income and Currency Strategist, and Chris Paizis, Head of Client Foreign Exchange at Absa CIB.

On 29 November 2024, the Market Practitioners Group published three significant consultation papers, based on the recommendations of various working groups. The

Ross Long, Head of Foreign Exchange for the Absa Group, reflects on the factors that shaped FX markets in 2024 and how they influenced the value of the rand.

Sibulele Mahalepa, Credit Strategist at Absa Corporate and Investment Banking, examines the low liquidity in South Africa’s ZAR1 trillion credit market and explores how increased transparency could solve the problem.

Paul Fenwick, CFA: FX Desk Head Markets at Absa Corporate and Investment Banking, explains how the rand’s reaction to the US election will – and won’t – impact retailers ahead of the Black Friday sales