Francois Groepe delivers special lecture
Prof Francois Groepe, Deputy Governor of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) and honorary professor in the Department of Economics, delivered a special lecture in the department on Thursday, 22 February. His talk was on 'The special case of banks and the promotion of financial system-wide stability.'
Prof Groepe explained how mob psychology and mass hysteria could lead to a bankcrisis. Although some people believe this could happen randomly, there are empirical studies that suggest that these panics are related to the business cycle. “If depositors believe there is an impending downturn, they will anticipate difficulties in the banking sector and try to withdraw their funds which precipitates a crisis.
He mentioned, though, that the aggregate capital levels of South African banks – the total amount of capital that banks have available – are quite high, standing at 15/16% compared to a global average of 8%.
“Our banking system is quite resilient," said Prof Groepe.
Login
(for staff & registered students)
BER Weekly
1 Nov 2024The Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS), delivered on Wednesday, was the highlight of the week domestically. The MTBPS was a little underwhelming, but to be fair, fiscal policy works better when there are no surprises. While the most interesting domestic data releases are scheduled for later today, the international calendar was jampacked, with...
Read the full issue
BER Weekly
1 Nov 2024The Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS), delivered on Wednesday, was the highlight of the week domestically. The MTBPS was a little underwhelming, but to be fair, fiscal policy works better when there are no surprises. While the most interesting domestic data releases are scheduled for later today, the international calendar was jampacked, with...
Read the full issue