SA's affluent consumers are focusing more on personal liquidity management and postponing expenditure on big ticket items, the latest Absa Private Bank's analysis of customer behaviour reveals.
Gavin Opperman, CE of Absa Retail Bank, said they had observed a change in the behavioural patterns among the affluent consumers, who had been adopting debt reduction strategies.
The changed behaviours impacted cash savings, deposits and annuity-based investments, Opperman said.
Affluent consumers had adopted a “wait-and-see” attitude with regard to major purchases while also monitoring economic developments, particularly the future direction of interest rates, the bank said.
“Consequently, there is a sharp decrease in the 'buy-to-let' residential market and an evident trend of consumer preference to adopt longer vehicle finance contract periods to aid the affordability of more expensive cars,” Opperman added.
He said that low-risk medium-term returns with some flexibility in terms of liquidity seemed to be favoured by the affluent at the moment.
“We see a trend of wealth preservation, with the bulk of investments being made in the fixed-income and money market funds,” said Opperman. - I-Net Bridge