Alexander Forbes Assures of Robust Business

June 19 - The financial services company, Alexander Forbes, remains confident that it can withstand the pressures in the global financial markets, although it definitely expects uncertainties in the upcoming year.

The Chief Executive of Alexander Forbes, Bruce Campbell, said that he expected at least nine more months of difficulties as the market continued through the recession.

Campbell outlined some of the areas where he believed the company would be the worst affected.

"The contraction in the construction business, which affects some of our businesses, is going to make operating conditions tough," he said. "The lack of improvements in the equity market would also affect some of our operations as there would be no improvement in the fees which we charge asset managers."

But while Campbell said that the economy would feel the pinch because of the rise in retrenchments, he was also confident that the country would be able to get out of the financial crisis more easily than other countries.

With financial figures that show an 8% growth in income from operations (up to R5.3 billion), Alexander Forbes is definitely robust enough to take on the challenges of the current market.

The South African financial services division jumped 8% to incorporate R1.4 billion. Risk and insurance services divisions jumped another 9% to R1 billion.

Nonetheless, trading results fell to R992 million (a drop of 4%) because of challenging trading conditions for the financial services industry as a whole.