Nedbank South Africa

Credit rating in Moody's spotlight

At a time when ratings agencies are getting tough on global borrowers, South Africa’s credit status is under scrutiny. Ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service will hold a sub-Saharan Africa credit risk conference in Johannesburg on Thursday, which will cover topics such as sovereign debt and the debt of banks, corporates and the South African municipal sector.

Moody’s could use the occasion to make a change to South Africa’s outlook, currently stable with an A3 rating, which is four notches above sub-investment grade. A country’s credit standing determines the interest rate it has to pay when it borrows funds – a bill which is met by the taxpayers.

The chance that Moody’s will improve its outlook is limited.

Econometrix chief economist Azar Jammine said there was no reason for Moody’s to make a change. He said while the successful local elections was a positive factor, it was largely expected. And, though first-quarter growth was a surprisingly strong 4.8 percent, he doubted it could be sustained.

Nedbank group economist Dennis Dykes said: “With all the uncertainty both globally and locally, putting the country on a positive outlook would be a brave thing to do.”

He was referring to slow economic growth in advanced economies and recurring debt problems internationally, both of which affect domestic growth and policy issues.

Moody’s has taken a tough line on the US. According to Bloomberg, it will put the US government’s Aaa credit rating under review for a downgrade unless there is progress on limiting debt by mid-July.

And Moody’s downgraded Greece further last week to Caa1 from B1, with a negative outlook, which means it could be downgraded further. It cited failure to meet debt reduction targets and “uncertain growth prospects” as reasons.

South Africa, in contrast, does not have excessive debt. But it does have problems that could affect its credit standing.

Among the many uncertainties are questions around the government’s commitment to its present fiscal policies. In a report in March, Moody’s said the stable outlook was based on expectations that the sound policies of the past decade would continue. But it warned of an “increased risk that easier fiscal policy will become entrenched due to the greater influence of the labour unions and more activist public policy advocates in government”.

Nedbank South Africa Graduate Program 2012 — Jobs in South Africa ...

Nedbank has 11 divisions that perform different functions and offer a variety of career opportunities. Graduate opportunities are currently available in the following divisions:

Nedbank Retail

Nedbank Retail offers leading banking and financial services to individuals and small businesses. The many products and services available from Nedbank Retail are grouped into transactional, card, lending, investment and insurance solutions. The diverse clients served by this division can be broadly grouped into high-net-worth, affluent, youth, family, senior and small-business segments. The needs of these clients are met via a range of banking channels, including traditional branches, ATMs and digital access such as internet, telephone and cellphone banking.

The business operating model is organised around its product and client segment areas, overlaid by the servicing and delivery channels and further underpinned by three support services divisions.

The client segments include private banking, consumer banking (which includes the youth, family and senior segments) and small-business services. Shared Services, which provides support, including human resources, finance, projects, strategic planning and business intelligence services.

Retail Risk, which is responsible for the monitoring of compliance and all risks, including credit and operational risk, and for providing legal services to the division.

Retail Marketing, which provides marketing support to the various business divisions and assists in coordinating marketing activities across the broader Nedbank Group.

Over the past few years Nedbank Retail has achieved significant success thanks to its competitive product and price offerings backed by superior client service.

Qualifications and skills

At Nedbank Retail we employ graduates with skills and qualifications ranging from commerce (business management, marketing, human resources, economics, accounting, etc), computer science, IT, mathematics, statistics, engineering, communications and auditing to risk and many more. All fields of study are considered.

Nedbank Corporate

The Nedbank Corporate Division is made up of the client-focused businesses of Corporate Banking, Property Finance and Nedbank Africa, as well as the specialist businesses of Transactional Banking, Shared Services and Investor Services. These provide mainly lending, deposit-taking and transactional banking solutions and services to Nedbank’s corporate client base.

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