STANDARD Bank says it expects a spike in bad debt should SA be downgraded to junk status.The bank’s loan book is valued at about a trillion rand and most of the loans were mortgages, Standard Bank CEO Sim Tshabalala said on Tuesday.Some observers believe that SA’s sovereign rating will be cut to speculative noninvestment grade in December, amid heightened political instability and uncertainty over the future of Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.Gordhan is caught up in alleged attempts to remove him from office and has been targeted by the Hawks, who are probing his role in setting up a "rogue" spy unit at the South African Revenue Service during his tenure as commissioner.Speaking at a breakfast organised by business leadership organisation Accelerate Cape Town, Tshabalala said that a downgrade would lead to an increase in bad debts, job losses, reduced industrial capacity and a spike in interest rates."We have done all the scenarios to see what will happen if we are downgraded.… Peop...
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