Daniel Buntman, Principal Head | International Banking, Absa RBB

The election of Cyril Ramaphosa to replace former President Jacob Zuma as President of South Africa has resulted in renewed hope and confidence in our future.

With this positive investor sentiment and exuberant market outlook, the rand has strengthened against major currencies; bidding at R11,82 to the US dollar at market close on Monday, reaching strength not seen since 2015.

This renewed optimism in the country’s prospects presents an exciting opportunity for all South African savers to consider local savings vehicles with exposure to foreign currency markets. Allocating a percentage of one’s savings to foreign currencies is not only a great diversification strategy, but it also helps with saving for future expenses and acts as a hedging strategy against currency depreciation and inflation.

Isn’t this the perfect time to bring your money home? Reduce the hassle of managing banks around the world. Make your life easier and do it all from one place. Pro-South African savings that will make SA grow and capture the opportunity of renewal.

There is a common misconception that you have to be incredibly wealthy in order to have a foreign currency account. In reality, though you do not have to be a Warren Buffet to access these offerings, these have become much more accessible, easily available, and relatively affordable option for locals.

Saving globally from your local account

Absa provides South Africans with a foreign currency account that is domiciled in South Africa, meaning that your money stays in the country, as opposed to offerings that provide you with an offshore-held bank account.

Moreover, it is also much simpler and easier to use as well. Traditionally, consumers have to have separate platforms, requiring them to open off-shore accounts in foreign countries. This is not only more complicated but a lot more expensive way of doing foreign currency investment.

Absa has integrated their offering tightly with your domestic banking account and services. You can still have access to foreign currency savings, with the safety and security (and less the costly offshore banking fees) of having it together with your local banking services and account.

Additionally, you get this along with all the same functionality that you would have with your domestic accounts. This allows for an all-in-one banking solution from which you manage your local savings and investments in the same place as your foreign currency investments.

This account will also enable you to make international payment in any currency of the account to a third party, simply by going into a forex branch.

Absa’s offering democratises savings because it provides many more customers with the personal freedom to quickly, easily and conveniently put some of their hard-earned savings in foreign currency – and do this, while having it all connected to your conventional online banking service and remaining quick as well as simple to use.

*This article does not constitute financial advice, it is only meant for information-sharing purposes and the author will not be held liable, legally or otherwise, for any decisions taken as a result of this article.