COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

Sekunjalo Group's bank accounts to be reopenedThe Competition Tribunal has granted interim relief to the Sekunjalo Group, preventing three banks from closing their bank accounts and ordering five others to reopen bank accounts that have already been closed.In a statement, the tribunal said the interim relief will subsist for a period of six months, pending the conclusion of an investigation by the Competition Commission into a complaint regarding restrictive practices filed by the Sekunjalo Group against the banks in December.A total of 36 applicants - including Dr Iqbal Survé, the Sekunjalo Group’s chairperson - brought the interim relief application against nine banks, claiming that the banks' conduct, in terminating the banking relationship with them or refusing to provide banking and payment services to them, constituted an "abuse of dominance and collusive conduct in contravention of the Competition Act".The nine banks are Nedbank, Absa, FirstRand Bank, Sasfin Bank, Access Bank, Standard Bank, Mercantile Bank, a division of Capitec Bank, Bidvest Bank, and Investec Bank.The banks had argued that Sekunjalo was a high-risk client that had been implicated in wrongdoing in the Mpati Commission of Inquiry's Report into the Public Investment Corporation. Survé and Sekunjalo have denied that the report made any adverse findings against them.The applicants had asked the tribunal for an interim order prohibiting the closure of their existing banks accounts - where the accounts had not been terminated - and directing the banks to restore accounts that had already been closed.Among the exclusions are Survé's personal accounts with Nedbank and Investec that are unrelated to any business activities. -Fin24Iconic Cape Town high-rise to be soldThe iconic 34-storey "Absa Building" in Cape Town's central business district is coming to market as a mixed-use development known as Foreshore Place.It is the second-tallest building in the Mother City, nicknamed for the large Absa logo on its side. Absa leases the signage rights on the building as well as the retail space on the ground floor, but the building is owned by a private developer. The development offers 13 floors of dedicated office space, 11 floors of residential apartments, a retail floor, five floors of parking and a hotel that will be operated by an international hospitality brand.The residential floors comprise studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments, ranging in price from R1.1 million to R4.2 million."People are placing increased value on lifestyle and convenience by opting for mixed-use developments that combine retail, residential and commercial all under one roof," says Justine Adriaanzen, commercial real estate broker at Galetti Corporate Real Estate.She believes the building is well located in the CBD and should be attractive to those not wanting long commutes to work.Furthermore, Foreshore Place will be situated opposite the new Cape Station Project - a 3 085-bed student accommodation development. -Fin24Criminals steal Starbucks customers' dataStarbucks Singapore said its customer database was breached online, with local media reporting that 200 000 people's information was stolen.The coffee chain - a licensed Starbucks franchise owned by Hong Kong-based Maxim's Caterers - said in an email to customers that it had "discovered... some unauthorized access" to details such as names, gender, dates of birth, phone numbers and home addresses."Relevant authorities have been informed and Starbucks Singapore is assisting them on this matter," said the email seen by AFP.The company said it was made aware of the breach on 13 September, and that no credit card details were taken as it does not store them. It urged customers to reset their passwords.A public relations agency representing Starbucks Singapore told AFP it was "unable to disclose the number of affected customers".The Straits Times said 200 000 customers' data was stolen and put on sale in an online forum on September 10. One copy of the database had already been sold for Sg$3 500 (R44 000), the newspaper added.The city-state's Personal Data Protection Commission told AFP it had been notified about the incident and has reached out to Starbucks Singapore for more information. -Fin24

COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

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Namibian Sun 2022-09-30

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COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

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Namibian Sun 2022-09-30

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