Differences between Members and Shareholders of a Friendly Society and the Payment of Dividends: A South African–Australian Perspective

This article focusses on a very specific problem statement, namely how shareholder society relationships are viewed in Australia and South Africa. Friendly societies are special "legal creatures" enjoying legal personality from the date and time of their registration (not as companies). In South Africa friendly societies have been in existence for more than 160 years, with the latest legislation being promulgated in 1956. As an unregistered company, the friendly society forms part of the South African business enterprise landscape and has both members and shareholders. The legal relationships between members and shareholders and the payment of a dividend are unclear in the Friendly Society Act, 1956, and are generally regulated by the constitution or memorandum of incorporation of the friendly society. In Australia friendly societies developed approximately 200 years ago. In 1999 friendly society legislation was repealed by the Financial Sector Reform Act, 1999, in terms of which friendly societies had to convert to companies either as companies limited by guarantee or public companies as regulated by the Corporations Act, 2001. Prior to 1999, friendly societies were largely regulated by the Queensland Friendly Society Act, 1997 as unregistered companies. The Code regulated the relationships between members and shareholders and the payment of dividends. In this article we also focus on Australian friendly societies after 1999 and how they compare with South African friendly societies with regard to the member/shareholder relationships and the payment of dividends.

Guidance Note For Developing Government Local Currency Bond Markets

This guidance note was prepared by International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Group staff under a project undertaken with the support of grants from the Financial Sector Reform and Strengthening Initiative, (FIRST).The aim of the project was to deliver a report that provides emerging market and developing economies with guidance and a roadmap in developing their local currency bond markets (LCBMs). This note will also inform technical assistance missions in advising authorities on the formulation of policies to deepen LCBMs.

The impact of financial sector reforms on foreign direct investment in an emerging economy: empirical evidence from Ghana

Purpose This paper aims to empirically investigate the impact that financial sector reforms have on foreign direct investment (FDI) in Ghana. Design/methodology/approach Composite financial sector reform index was constructed, which was made up of various forms of reform policies that were implemented from 1987 to 2016. The auto regressive distributed lag bounds test was used to establish cointegration between variables. Having controlled for other covariates that affect FDI such as trade openness, exchange rate, gross domestic product per capita, inflation and by using the fully modified ordinary least squares method, the estimations are robust as it uses a semi-parametric correction to avoid for any possible issues of endogeneity and serial correlation. Findings Results from the paper reveal that financial sector reform deepening boost FDI with a 2.167% increase in FDI following from a unit percentage improvement of the financial sector reforms. Considering the various categories of reforms, the results reveal that competitive reforms have the highest impact on FDI followed by privatization reforms with positive and significant elasticity coefficients of 2.174% and 0.726%, respectively. Behavioral reforms revealed a positive effect on FDI, albeit insignificant. Originality/value The paper contributes to policy by providing empirical evidence on the effect of financial sector reform on FDI inflows in Ghana. As far as the review of literature is concerned, this paper provides the foremost empirical evidence on the subject with sole emphasis on Ghana. Thus, this paper suggests the deepening of the financial sector reforms, improving competition and maintaining macroeconomic stability.

Sri Lanka

After three decades of civil war and political instability that ended in 2009, Sri Lanka has embarked on a program of reform intended to enable the country to emerge as an internationally competitive middle level economy. In the last couple of years, the SEC has undergone multiple assessments against international standards which have contributed to the design of its financial sector reform program. In 2015, The World Bank Market Development Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) highlighted the challenges facing Sri Lanka and recommended modernization reforms. In July 2016, an IOSCO Review Team (RT) assessed the SEC against IOSCO’s Objectives and Principles and made detailed recommendations for amendments to the SEC Act, including for the enforcement program.

Reform boosts Colombia financial sector ambitions

Subject Financial sector reform. Significance The Colombian authorities will this year implement a law that substantially expands and improves oversight of the country’s largest financial groups and will bring its regulatory framework more into line with international standards. The overall goal of the law is to protect consumers and the public finances by making the financial system stronger, more transparent and sustainable in the long term. Impacts The law will reduce systemic risks and better equip Colombia to deal with periods of financial stress. It will allow proper assessment of the domestic financial system's exposure to risks originating abroad. It should also help Colombia on its way to becoming a member of the OECD.

THE REFORMS IN THE EMU TOWARDS BANKING AND CAPITAL UNION: CONSEQUENCES AND CHALLENGES TO THE FINANCIAL SECTOR IN BULGARIA

The еconomic and financial integration of Bulgaria to the European Union (EU) since the start of its official membership in 2007 coincided with the worst Global financial and economic crisis for the last seven decades and with the European sovereign crisis in the European Moneraty Union (EMU) as the “core’ of the EU integration. The paper discusses the adjustment of the Bulgarian economy to the integration process in the EU which has been challenged by the deep institutional reform process as crucial for overcoming the crisis by making the normative power of the EU stronger. The macroeconomic performance of Bulgaria is revealed with regard to the compliance with the macroeconomic convergence criteria for the EMU. The financial sector reform is discussed to outline its ongoing reform with the EU law and regulation. Conclusions are summarized for the EMU’s entry as a challenge and opportunity for further integration of Bulgaria the EU.