WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2010-09-09 Time: 15:00:02 Posted By: News Poster
By Sure Kamhunga
Johannesburg – ABSA yesterday rushed to defend its empowerment credentials after an internal review revealed it came last among the top listed four banks in terms of progress to improve its broad-based economic empowerment status.
The review showed that Absa – majority owned by Barclays Bank – took the wooden spoon, scoring the least points among the four banks based on the broad elements of the scorecard for the period to December last year.
While admitting it trailed its rivals, Absa argued that it is not only involved in a numbers game, because “true” transformation should also include actions “that make a difference”.
The bank listed a number of initiatives – ranging from the appointment of black executives, to support for small businesses and expanding banking services to the poor – as evidence that it is committed to empowerment.
Absa achieved 69,55 points out of a possible 100, coming fourth after Standard Bank, FirstRand and top performer Nedbank, which scored 86,62 points.
Absa’s total score was a step back from the 71,36 points achieved in 2008. The bank has set a target of 75,51 points to achieve a Level 3 broad-based empowerment status for this year.
Absa’s ranking confirms its poor performance in the latest survey by ratings agency Empowerdex, which ranked it as the last among its top four rivals in a survey of the top 50 empowered companies.
Absa’s performance comes against the backdrop of complaints by bodies such as the Black Management Forum that some large companies are dragging out the process of promoting blacks to board and key decision-making executive and senior management positions.
Empowerment credentials are seen as vital to attract business, particularly from government and state enterprises. Absa said in its review that its credentials are “critical as a supplier of financial services”.
The empowerment compliance review used by Absa ranks performance in the key areas of ownership, management and control, employment equity, skills development, preferential procurement, enterprise development and socioeconomic development.
Each element is measured out of 100 points, with a company achieving 100 points earning the Level 1 empowerment status, while Level 8 correlates to a score of less than 40 points. Based on its points for last year , Absa has a Level 4 status, the same as in 2008.
FirstRand and Standard Bank were tied at Level 3 and Nedbank had a Level 2 status.
“Absa (as of December last year ) lags behind its competitors with respect to (empowerment) status,” Absa said in the review obtained by Business Day. “Nedbank is currently the market leader in this area.”
Absa scored the least points among the top four banks on ownership, management and control, employment equity, and preferential procurement.
However, it managed five points for its socioeconomic development spending , as did Nedbank and Standard Bank. FirstRand had the highest, at 15 points.
On ownership, Absa scored 8,79 points, Standard Bank had 13,98 points, FirstRand 16,10 and Nedbank 17,35 points.
“The impact of the sale of 49,9% of the (empowerment partner) Batho Bonke shares in June last year (for a profit of R1,062bn) is that Absa has maintained a Level 4 empowerment status,” the review said.
Absa’s chief corporate affairs and sustainability officer, Venete Klein, said yesterday that Batho Bonke is expected to sell the remaining 5,1% next year, “(and) this will further erode Absa’s ownership score”.
On management control Absa scored 5,58 points compared with Nedbank’s 9,33 points; while on employment equity, it scored 9,24 points against Nedbank’s 10,77 points, FirstRand’s 10,48 and Standard Bank’s 9,43 points.
The review confirms Absa management’s concern that there should be “no room for slippage on any of the elements if we intend to achieve a Level 3 (ranking) by the end of (this year )”.
Absa has set an ambitious target to exceed some of the Department of Trade and Industry’s targets by 2012, pledging to spend as much as R470m developing black-owned entities. It also plans to improve the number of blacks in middle and senior management in the same year and to spend up to 3% of its total payroll expenses developing skills for black employees.
Original Source: 
Original date published: 9 September 2010
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201009090790.html?viewall=1