| Ravind Dajee: « We tend to forget where the country has come to from the 60’s… » | | | | Modifier la taille du texte: | A | | | A | | |
|
| | Touria PRAYAG | 03/12/2010 | | | | ■ At the Governor of the Bank of Mauritius’s dinner for economic operators, you did not seem very pleased with the Governor’s reproaching you with making a lot of profit.
 It’s not that I was not very pleased, but things have to be put in their proper context. We were being reproached with two things. One was the allegedly excessive profit that we make and second was the lack of support to investment on the part of the banks.
■ Is that not justified?
Of course not!
■ Neither of these is justified? Aren’t you making a Rs.50 million-a-day profi t? Rs 50 million a day is an average based on end-of-year published results of all the 19 banks that operate in Mauritius – banks of varying sizes and with varying clientele and focus, operating domestically but also increasingly internationally with clients who are not based here.
Remember also that end-of-year profits are dependent on a number of factors both on the revenue side and on the expenditure side. Operational efficiency sustained over the accounting year clearly increases profits just like enhanced revenue. This is where the criticism is unjustified. We are one of the most, if not the most efficient sector of the economy. Is this not what we seek and like any other company, aren’t we here to make profits?
■ Excessive profit? At the expense of the customers?
No not at all. We work with the customer. I think we grow with the customer. You have to look at the number in terms of return on assets and return on equity. In fact, we are perhaps the industry with the lowest return on assets that you can get.
Our return on assets is 1.5% or somewhere there. Second, our return on equity is comparable to other performing sectors. You also have to take into consideration the higher risks we take.
Read the full interview on the e-paper
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| stopbanque | | | -Go to this website for what could strike banks on 7th December -http://stopbanque.blogspot.com/ | | | Jivanmukta | | | -It was excessive profits and the endless pursuit by the directors of banks
in the US and elsewhere for dodgy investments aimed primarily to boost their
salaries and bonuses that led to the financial crisis. Let's not call it
'returns'. Let's call it by its real name - greed! The time will come when Mauritius will be forced to curb this greed as has already happened in several countries. Excess in anything can never be healthy. Mauritius has entered its 'age of greed'. Only a deep shock will make it realize this. | | | Mr X | | | -Quote: "...I think we grow with the customer.."
What you actually mean is that you grow off the back of your customers !!
What is going to be your next bonus like? I bet BIG BIG Money. You see I probably love money even more than you but at least I earn it decently !! I didn't say legally but decently : )
The banking sector is unfortunately the pillar of most economies but it should never be this way. We can see what the result of this is today right across the world.
I could go on like this for a little while ....... | | | zinger II | | | -Just to give you another example of how the banks are special. When an enterprise wishes to create more space by constructing an additional building it must call for an injection of capital from its shareholders, and/or issue bonds and/or borrow from banks to finance it, just as if an individual person, building a home, would require a bank mortgage. All these involve an interest charge. A bank has no such constraints because if it wants to have an additional branch built, it pays for it all-inclusive out of thin air, interest free, because it pays the contractors or, for that matter, any other provider of goods and services, by drawing cheques on itself! In other words, it lends to itself not by creating the usual IOU/loan, but by substituting fixed assets in its place. The issued cheques thus constitute new deposits in the overall banking system simply put the bank effects a debit to Fixed (Assets) account and simultaneously credits a Bills Payable (liability) account, which clears when the deposited cheques come back to the bank. Now you understand why we have 20 banks with only a population of 1.3 million souls... | | | Diego | | | -Asking a banker whether the banks are making excessive profits and expecting him to say "yes" is not very smart, Touria | | | zinger | | | -Because the banks process the overall payment system, they are “special” and considered as a “public utility” and, as such, they are to operate responsibly and not ”exploit” consumers‘ relative financial illiteracy. Every day they shift digital entries in their computers with debits and credits, which create high margins/ spreads that go towards generating super profits, unlike productive real industries with factories…Citizens are not yet fully conscious and aware that the banks are in the privileged position (afforded by the Government) of creating money at the stroke of a digital book entry. Most people think that bank deposits finance loans/overdrafts when it is the reverse that occurs. The bank loan officer usually finds a creditworthy customer, agrees to lend and then inputs the system with a debit (IOU- as a bank asset) and credits the customer’s account (new deposit-as a bank liability).In other words, the customer has an asset (new deposit) and the equivalent liability (bank loan).The more loans are granted the more deposits enter the banking system, thus enhancing liquidity with more money in circulation. This is evidenced by the increase in BASE MONEY (1) the issue of notes and coins by the Bank of Mauritius and (2) the obligatory reserves held by all banks at the Central Bank. The banks are therefore transformers/intermediaries of liquidity at any moment. The MBA will of course not dwell on these aspects but will rather talk about the “low” returns on equity (shareholders’ funds) or assets (which anyway consist, in a large measure of newly created money, as explained previously).Nor will it say that the banks enjoy the benefit of INTEREST FREE funds deposited on customers’ current accounts(Rs 42 billion) and yet charge 20% p.a. on outstanding credit card debt, which amounted to Rs1.7 billion as at 30.10.10,thus earning interest about Rs1 million daily just on this “service”. If they are not making excessive profits, how can they justify the annual remuneration packages amounting to more than Rs 60 million granted by the leading local bank to its top 3 executives, together, as compared to industry leaders in the real productive sectors of the Economy? | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Autres interviews |
|
|
Nikhil Treebhoohun : «Les traités ne sont d’aucune utilité si les entreprises ne s’en servent pas»
Le CEO du «Global Institutional Investors Forum» parle des perspectives pour Maurice en termes d’investissements en Afrique. Il décortique les spécificités du continent, tout en évoquant les forces sur lesquelles Port-Louis peut compter pour aller vers «la dernière frontière». | | | | | Feroz Dahoo : «Les gains perçus sur les taux de change n’ont pas bénéficié aux consommateurs»
Le Chief Executive Officer de Thomas Cook (Mauritius) estime que nos dirigeants doivent démontrer « leur capacité à maintenir la stabilité sociale et politique » et « éviter des pertes d’emplois ». | | | | | Dominique Dherve : «Ces plantes qui reviennent sont des porte-drapeaux»
C’est un projet tout à fait exceptionnel : ramener des espèces endémiques disparues à la vie et les réintroduire dans nos forêts. L’une de ses chevilles ouvrières nous raconte comment quelques cellules d’une graine peuvent sauvegarder une espèce toute entière et bien plus encore. Le Directeur du Conservatoire botanique national de Brest nous en parle. | | | | | | | Jean-Claude de l’Estrac: « Je trouve la nation plus forte que beaucoup d’entre nous s’imaginent »
La nation, la citoyenneté, l’éthique. Ces sujets ne sont pas souvent débattus. Jean-Claude de l’Estrac qui a été éditorialiste, auteur d’ouvrages sur l’histoire de Maurice et ministre de la République les aborde et se prononce avec une clarté qui témoigne d’une réflexion approfondie sur ces thèmes à portée sociétale. | | | | | | | Bissoon Mungroo, proche collaborateur de Sir Anerood Jugnauth : «Ramgoolam a piégé le MSM avec Medpoint»
Bissoon Mungroo, proche collaborateur de sir Anerood Jugnauth (SAJ) – le seul à avoir été présent au Réduit le jour de l’annonce de sa démission – affirme que les gens ont peur de montrer leur soutien à l’ancien président de la République par peur de représailles. Presque deux mois après la démission de SAJ, il déclare que ce dernier n’est pas déçu du manque de momentum, mais qu’il est, au contraire, en train de labourer le terrain. | | | | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|