Cape Town - Twitter SA's reaction to research group Viceroy's new report claiming SA bank Capitec was a "loan shark" was swift, and mixed.
The US-based group released its latest report on Tuesday morning, which caused Capitec's share price to fall by 20%, before recovering to trade 12.3% down by 13:00.
Capitec has been one of SA's best performing banks in recent years, picking up numerous awards. In September 2017 it was named SA's favourite bank at the annual Sunday Times Top Brands awards.
The same month it overtook Nedbank to become SA's fourth-largest bank by market capitalisation.
On Tuesday, its CEO Gerrie Fourie called allegations included in Viceroy's report "baseless".
"We strongly refute these allegations and are in the process of gathering information to respond to the claims made in the report with facts," he said.
Reaction on social media was as usual, very swift:
Hopefully Capitec will move with great speed to deal this matter.
— x o l a n i n dimba (@XNdimba) January 30, 2018
Capitec reels on new Viceroy Report via @Fin24 https://t.co/Ghes54l7so
Viceroy report is littered with "Viceroy believes" "assumption" "estimate" "appears to" "point towards" "must be" and so on. Not a piece of research credible enough to drive down a company's share price by 25%. #Capitec
— Karin Richards (@Richards_Karin) January 30, 2018
More 'world-class' surveillance from the JSE… Market resembles nothing more than a leaky sieve. Capitec and PSG Group shares were sold off heavily (!) yesterday – both down 8% – ahead of today's @viceroyresearch report. Lots of people knew something. #Viceroy #Capitec
— Hilton Tarrant (@hiltontarrant) January 30, 2018
I've just spent half an hour looking at #Capitec's latest financial statements.
It's all so glaringly obvious... How could all those clever analysts have missed it for all these years??— Deon Gouws (@DeonGouws_Credo) January 30, 2018
Is it a coincidence that Capitec's share price was down 8% yesterday (before the Viceroy report)? Me thinks not. And they say insider trading is a fallacy né. Again, the JSE is caught sleeping ?????????? #Capitec #Viceroy
— Ray Mahlaka (@RayMahlaka) January 30, 2018
If #Capitec bank goes down... I might as well keep my money under the mattress. pic.twitter.com/6MmJauqqk3
— ?? (@_uMaDube) January 30, 2018
- From Capitec BankWe have taken note of the Viceroy report on Capitec Bank. We are currently in the process of investigating the report in detail and will respond appropriately.
— Capitec Bank (@CapitecBankSA) January 30, 2018Hopefully Capitec will move with great speed to deal this matter.
— x o l a n i n dimba (@XNdimba) January 30, 2018
Capitec reels on new Viceroy Report via @Fin24 https://t.co/Ghes54l7so- ViceroyCapitec: A wolf in sheep’s clothing. Viceroy’s latest report is now live. $CPI #JSE @SAReserveBank @CapitecBankSA
— Viceroy (@viceroyresearch) January 30, 2018
Fraser Perring of Viceroy Research will appear on Bloomberg @business at 8:30am GMT to discuss the report.https://t.co/5A0n53OEbb pic.twitter.com/v8qnXvuMnPSo Capitec is also corrupt? So I'm the only one left who's not corrupt, reason I'm so dead poor! Capitec reels on new Viceroy report https://t.co/Bev4RuwcSg?
— KABELO MG (@KabeloMG) January 30, 2018
shared via @Fin24More 'world-class' surveillance from the JSE… Market resembles nothing more than a leaky sieve. Capitec and PSG Group shares were sold off heavily (!) yesterday – both down 8% – ahead of today's @viceroyresearch report. Lots of people knew something. #Viceroy #Capitec
— Hilton Tarrant (@hiltontarrant) January 30, 2018
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