Endless red tape and increasing surveillance are becoming more demanding than the rigours of running a companyCommentators have described PSG’s exit from the JSE as the end of an era, the termination of a hugely rewarding investment for those who had the vision to back the “Boere Buffett”, Jannie Mouton.
PSG listed on the JSE in 1995 during a decade of groundbreaking transformation in the financial services industry, a revamp cultivated by political change, globalisation and cutting-edge developments in technology. Leon Campher , Hendrik Du Toit and John Winship were some of the trailblazers who challenged the stranglehold of the large insurers in the asset-management industry such as Sanlam, Liberty and Old Mutual.
The rapid pace of technological advancement, though, brought new dangers to the financial services industry. Regulators around the globe worried about how effortlessly illicit capital flowed across borders. They scrambled to implement controls to bar unlawful transactions, but the power and speed of the internet, together with a proliferation of complex new financial products, left administrators trying to crush the banking equivalent of the Lernaean Hydra, the mythical multiheaded sea monster.