Spotlight On...
Contact Tracey Swart
Tel: +27 31 538 4855
Email:
tracey.swart@blake.co.za Web:
www.blake.co.za
SPOTLIGHT ON... Credit Services South Africa Tracey Swart, Blake
“The credit services arena has been subject to significant amounts of change over the last ten years primarily in the area of legislation, governance and compliance.”
in retail for a major banking group and then for a significant period in the corporate and investment banking arena. Blake is a third party outsourcer capable of providing services across all elements of a customer lifecycle with 24 years’ experience in the South African consumer debt collection market.
T Q
The major focus of the group is Consumer Debt Management but that has been overlaid with the full extent of client engagement (Acquisition, Customer Service) and Digital Communication (Social Media, web chat, e-mail response). In addition, Blake is licenced to provide collection capability to the United Kingdom from South Africa.
How would you describe South Africa’s credit services landscape?
The credit services arena has been subject to significant amounts of change over the last ten years primarily in the area of legislation, governance and compliance. driving
factors are consumer protection in
terms of interest rates, treat the customer fairly, protection of personal information, monitoring of financial advice coupled with stringent liquidity requirements for the deposit taking institutions who are the significant lenders. Despite this, within the consumer arena, credit providers are
racey Swart, Director of Sales and customer relationships with Blake Group, has been involved in the financial services sector in South Africa for the last 25 years; initially
Q
being established every day and we see a number of new market entrants and innovative lending products being introduced to the market. In recent years, what have been the main challenges facing your clients?
Changing legislation is a significant one. Recent amendments to prescription legislation, a consumer credit amnesty and uncertainty around some of the collection methodologies (i.e. emolument attachment orders) are all making the environment more challenging from the assessment of the credit risk through to the collections.
Q
How might these challenges be overcome?
Once clarification of the legislation and regulations is finalised, business can adapt accordingly. In the interim, focus on ensuring that your data is accurate, up to date and the investment in technology in order to enhance efficiencies and processes are vital.
The major
With the strong financial services sector, local expertise is astute and experienced. New entrants unfamiliar with the market would be advised to have local partners and or expertise as part of their process.
Q
How do you expect the credit services landscape to develop in the next five
years? Whilst South Africa has a very robust and stable
FINANCEMONTHLY 53
Financial Services Sector, we do tend to play catch up from a product perspective. E-Commerce and multi-channel communication are going to become key components and in many sectors we can see the migration towards this (including online payday lenders). Other innovations include peer lending which have started to emerge in the South African market.
From a collections perspective, self-help is a significant development and Blake has some innovation solutions in this regard which we have brought to market. A crucial area of operation is omni-channel and introducing capability in your environment would be fundamental; from origination right through to collections or rehabilitation.
Q
What are your top tips for operating in South Africa’s credit environment?
Resilience, agility and an appetite for risk. If you have these characteristics, the credit environment offers good opportunity for experienced lenders who capitalise on local expertise to understand the market and some of the complexities.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72