Archive for the 'Innovation' Category
February 4th, 2012 by Tom Minney
PLUS Markets (www.plusmarketsgroup.com), a British-regulated investment exchange for trading the shares of small companies, has put itself up for sale on 3 Feb. According to a press release, the company says it has spent 2 years investing heavily in repositioning itself as a trading solutions services provider alongside its roots as a stock exchange.
The Board of Directors says it is “well positioned strategically to exploit commercially the opportunities offered by significant changes in the regulatory and technological environment”. The Board has decided to conduct a formal sale process “in order to identify appropriate potential partners for the Company or major strategic investors”. It calls on potential offerors for the entire issued and to be issued share capital to contact their adviser, Wyvern Partners (www.wyvernpartners.com, Anthony Gahan +44 207 355 9857).
Plus Markets Group plc describes itself on its website as a “next-generation” stock exchange and a market operator under the European Union Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) on Recognised Investment Exchanges (RIE). It operates a regulated market and multilateral trading facility (MTF). PLUS is the holding company for the PLUS Stock Exchange (PLUS-SX) and the PLUS Derivatives Exchange (PLUS-DX).
As an RIE, PLUS-SX can provide trading and listing services in the full range of financial instruments including cash, equities, derivatives, bonds and commodities. It provides cash trading and listing for UK and international companies with a range of markets through fully listed and growth markets to access capital. PLUS-DX offers derivatives and technology services and plans to offer short-to medium-term interest-rate related products. “We have designed PLUS-DX’s services to meet the changing regulatory and commercial landscape.”
PLUS Trading Solutions (“PLUS-TS”) responds to the growing demand from market participants to segregate or create their own matching systems and delivers a competitive, fully managed matching and surveillance service, designed to help firms satisfy new regulatory requirements. The group brings “product innovation and competitive pricing to market participants by operating a low cost base RIE. PLUS offers a neutral trading environment, wholly independent of any market user.”
The Board of PLUS adds: “scale and international reach will become increasingly relevant for interaction with exchanges, investment banks and other trading entities.”
According to a story on Reuters, the company reported a loss of GBP5.8m ($9.2m) on revenue of GBP3m in 2010, its sixth consecutive loss-making year. PLUS grew out of Ofex, an exchange for British small-cap stocks that required less regulation than the London Stock Exchange or AIM. The share price was at 1 penny.
“The Board believes that it is in the best interests of the Company to seek a partner which will help it achieve the scale and reach required to maximise value to stakeholders.”
January 10th, 2012 by Tom Minney
The JSE Ltd (www.jse.co.za), South Africa’s securities exchange, is hoping to attract more listings from the rest of Africa in 2012 and to expand its range of products and services. This year should also see the JSE installing its equity trading system in Johannesburg, to avoid dependence on a transatlantic cable connecting it to the London Stock Exchange.
Nicky Newton-King, who took up her post as CEO last week after succeeding Russell Loubser and the first woman to hold the post, told Business Day newspaper the plan was to offer more access to African companies and products such as exchange-traded funds products that enable people to access new investments: “With the rules of inward listing being relaxed, we would also like to attract more inward listings.” Besides IPOs, Newton-King said she expected to see more types of products, such as depository receipts and derivatives linked to companies being offered.
The JSE is in “good conversation” with several companies elsewhere in Africa over more potential listings. Last November she told Reuters: “We’ve got good conversations going … particularly on the continent.” She said the bourse is targeting mining, telecommunications and financial services: “Our approach is to look at issuers that need capital — need investors where their home markets might be too small. So we’ve got a lot of different segments we are looking at, but we are looking at particular issuers rather than trying to speak to everyone.”
The JSE already has 14 African companies listed, with 4 different debt instruments and 1 African ETF. Last year Reuters highlighted that some growing African firms preferred other international exchanges, particularly the London Stock Exchange and its AIM market, over the JSE for raising capital and listings, as highlighted in stories on this website. The JSE seeks closer cooperation with other African exchanges as it competes with other world bourses: “Clearly we need to be trying to find a way to cooperate with African exchanges, with African issuers to bring more African product to the table here in SA, where we have a lot of international investors everyday.”
The JSE attracted a total of 16 listings last year, with a combined market capitalisation of more than R35 billion (US$4.3bn), according to data from the JSE’s director of issuer services, John Burke. There were also a number of initial public offerings from the property sector. About 15 companies de-listed last year and 21 were on the suspended list. The number of new IPOs worldwide is lower since the start of the global financial crisis. Newton-King said there is a pipeline for potential listings in 2012: “Definitely there’s a pipeline, there’s always a pipeline. We never talk about the number since how many companies actually list and when they list is very much dependent on the economic circumstances of the country and whether the companies themselves are ready to list.
“We are looking forward to being able to attract a wider range of companies and investment opportunities on the JSE.”
The plan is still to use the same computer provider, Sri Lanka’s Millennium IT which is a subsidiary of the LSE. In terms of a February 2011 press release, the JSE is to migrate to a new system Millennium Exchange™, which the LSE has also adopted, in the first half of 2012. Millennium IT systems are used on many African stock exchanges.
Newton-King told Business Day she hoped this will minimise the outages experienced last year, which were linked to technical issues on the transatlantic cable. The JSE halted trading on its equity markets at least twice last year, which led to the exchange attracting criticism from trading houses, which often spoke anonymously to the media.
She said: “We are critically dependent on information technology (IT) and invest heavily in IT to ensure it is robust and able to handle increased volumes as the JSE grows. Our equity systems are run in London and there’s been some trading outages in the lines between us and London…. We are bringing the systems back to avoid that. We will continue to look at whether our technology is robust enough to withstand volumes.”
She did not give much information on rumours that the JSE is talking with SA Treasury on starting a trading market for carbon credits but said the JSE was looking at the possibility and how it would work with others.
Of the type of environment that she envisions at the JSE, Ms Newton-King says: “In 2012 I would like the JSE to be recognised as a place of excellence, a place where SA’s top talent would come and work, where our clients recognise that we provide products and services that are valuable to them.”
Her former post as deputy CEO no longer exists and duties that fell to her are being given to other people so that they can also grow.
December 21st, 2011 by Tom Minney
Dateline – Marrakech
FTSE (www.ftse.com) is working on a FTSE-ASEA index with the African Securities Exchanges Association (www.africansea.org), which will help to unlock Africa an investment for larger portfolio investors. According to Imogen Dillon Hatcher, Executive Director, FTSE Group, speaking at the ASEA conference in Marrakech, Morocco, on 12 Dec, the index will make clear how much Africa is outperforming the rest of the world: “A ‘back-cast’ of the FTSE Africa index performs better than FTSE world index by quite a margin”. The index covers stocks on 16 exchanges and is adjusted for investibility, including free float and liquidity.
She said that FTSE Group was restructured on 12 Dec, with the London Stock Exchange Group buying out the 50% share owned by Pearson, owner of the Financial Times newspaper, “as of this morning”. The buyout transaction is set to close in the first quarter of 2012. FTSE calculates and manages over 200,000 indices worldwide, which are linked to over $3 trillion in global assets under management. These include the widely-used global benchmark, the FTSE All-World Index. She said FTSE is the top index group worldwide: “FTSE is known as a partner around the word, FTSE works with you to unlock the investment potential that is your market.” As markets mature, broader ranges of investible tools are needed including a reliable index that can promote the development of a wider range of investment products, including exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
The group had a strong commitment to Africa and already been working with South Africa’s JSE Ltd (www.jse.co.za) since 2002. In December 2010 they signed with the Casablanca SE (www.casablanca-bourse.com) to create FTSE CSE Morocco Index Series with two index products. On 8 November 2011 FTSE announced a partnership with the Nairobi Stock Exchange (www.nse.co.ke) to create new indices. FTSE NSE Kenya Index Series track the performance of the largest and most widely-traded stocks listed on Africa’s fourth oldest securities exchange.
Dillon Hatcher said FTSE China indices form the basis for $14 billion worth of ETFs, including giant funds by iShares. The group had worked to develop the indices with international and domestic managers including Xinhua Finance Ltd. She added: “We know something about building an index” and the ASEA index would “throw the light of transparency onto your markets”.
The work of developing the ASEA index had been led for over a year by Jonathan Cooper, Managing Director Middle East and Africa, working with a broad range of African exchanges. The target was to build an investible index, with clear and transparent rules and methodology. They started with all African companies; then filtered for those whose price information is available on Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters. They looked at securities types, adjusted for a minimum 15% free float (the proportion of shares potentially available for buyers) and did liquidity testing on the securities and then did country weightings. The index now covers 16 countries, which have securities which meet the requirements.
The new index will be reweighted twice a year. Dillon Hatcher added that FTSE would be working with a prospective client base to put forward this pan-Africa index: “We hope funds will come out of this and drive Africa as an investible destination, make sure the index stays fresh and make it sure it stays relevant, as the client base comes to us with ideas, such as sectoral indices.
She also explained how securities markets indices had evolved. It started as a general economic indicator, showing how share prices are moving as an indicator of investors’ expectations of business prospects. Then indices became a tool for benchmarking but were still simple measurement tools. From this they became an underlying framework for more passive asset management such as ETFs, and depending on market these could be simple or ever more complex, depending on the needs of organizations such as asset managers or investment banks. Eventually they would also develop into a tool to assess market risk, with much potential to get involved in top-end investment strategy, where “we are starting to blur the lines between passive and active management”.
She threw down the gauntlet to active managers “We would assert that over time it is very hard for an active manger to beat an index, we have done lots of work with academics.” She said indices bring market benefits including low-cost market access provided they are transparent, rules-based and useful. “All the name-brand indices have to be fit for purpose and they have to do a job. You know they will behave in a particular way.” At other meetings this author has heard exchanges have wondered about the future of securities markets when the volume and value of derivatives and ETFs traded far outweighs the trade in the actual shares.
Commenting on the transaction in which the LSE buys out Pearson, LSE CEO Xavier Rolet commented in a press release: “Fully aligning FTSE with one of the world’s most liquid and most international trading groups is an exciting opportunity. This transaction further delivers on our diversification strategy, expanding the London Stock Group’s existing offering deeper into indices, derivatives and market data products and services. This is a business we know well, and we expect that going forward our customers will directly benefit from greater choice, opportunity and innovation.”
December 6th, 2011 by Tom Minney
Africa is using much less than its share of global financing available for carbon reduction projects, but the process to apply is complicated and a special facility has been set up to help. The African Carbon Asset Development facility has funded successful projects to reduce carbon emissions in Africa. A workshop was held last weekend for sharing practical lessons, attended by about 30 developers, investors, and local experts and bringing together African carbon asset development partners and financiers and beneficiaries including entrepreneurs on how to make carbon finance work for Africa.
The workshop highlighted successful carbon investment projects in Africa supported by the African Carbon Asset Development facility (www.acadfacility.org), formed by the United Nations Environment Programme (www.unep.org) in cooperation with Standard Bank Group (www.standardbank.co.za) and funded by the German Federal Environment Ministry (www.bmu.du/english). The ACAD partnership addresses key barriers that have stopped more people in Africa benefitting from carbon financing on projects as it provides technical assistance, seed capital, and specialized advisory services to both green entrepreneurs and to banks across Africa.
Although carbon financing is growing in importance worldwide, Africa’s share remains very low. According to ACAD facility’s website, in 2009 around $84 billion was invested in 684 emission reduction projects in emerging markets, but African nations got only 2% of the global total. The aim of ACAD is to help increase Africa’s carbon markets.
The workshop was held (somewhere) in Durban as part of a Conference of Parties (COP 17/CMP7) to discuss the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (at sometime) over the weekend 3-4 December. It was organized by Standard Bank and UNEP.
Two examples of successful projects were cited. Johannesburg-based AAP Carbon (www.aapcarbon.com) has developed a technology that can generate heat and electric power from furnace waste gases emitted during ferrochrome smelting. The development was piloted with a financing plan which included carbon credit revenue.
A plant near Rustenberg, South Africa is already operational for London-listed International Ferro Metals (www.ifml.com) and is reducing greenhouse gas emissions by over 200,000 tons a year. Alex Berger, Director of AAP Carbon, explained how the project benefited from UNEP support so that it could tackle challenges in registering for a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which is a global framework allowing industrialized countries to fund carbon emissions in places where this can be done more cheaply. The AAP Carbon project is now in the final stages of registration and has apparently been certified with the premium Gold Standard. Several investors are interested in using the climate-friendly technology for other plants, after IFM and AAP Carbon showed that it works.
Kevin Fruin, a South African small business owner, said there is scope to make bricks in a way that is more efficient with energy. He said that construction accounts for almost 30% of South Africa’s greenhouse gas emissions and 200 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in South Africa make clay bricks. He is one of the small businesses piloting a cleaner production technology called “Vertical Shaft Brick Kiln”. This can save manufacturers at least 50% of coal use and reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and air pollutants such as soot and black carbon. ACAD is supporting the development of a national programme using the CDM to scale up these demonstration projects so that other businesses can use the technology. It is giving financial advisory, legal due diligence, and a customized carbon-auditing tool for participating SMEs.
The session also provided some 30 participants an opportunity to learn more about how to benefit from grants from ACAD and training.
October 28th, 2011 by Tom Minney
The next step for Africa’s securities exchanges is critical for the continent’s development. There is a huge demand for capital to be put to productive use in what could be the world’s fastest-growing continent, with a dire need for fast growth to drive out poverty. There is also a tide of international risk capital, looking to fund that growth and share in the profits. Between the two are the capital markets, challenged to move fast to become liquid, transparent and effective.
Lots of these topics are on the agenda for The 15th Annual African Securities Exchange Association conference (www.aseaconference2011.ma) (in Marrakesh, Morocco), which looks to have an excellent agenda. Casablanca Stock Exchange is the host, the theme is “Africa, alive with opportunities!”
Top speakers include key opinion leaders such as Thomas Friedman, Mark Mobius and maybe Christine Lagarde of the IMF. Expect speeches from Sunil Benimadhu (Stock Exchange of Mauritius and chair of ASEA), Karim Hajji of the Casablanca bourse, leaders of African securities markets and top speakers from several world bourses including BM&F Bovespa, Istanbul, NASDAQ OMX and the London Stock Exchange, with India’s National Stock Exchange and NYSE Euronext to confirm. They will be joined by finance ministers, bankers, analysts, traders, investors and many more.
Topics on day 1 include
• “The financial crisis: Is there a pilot in the plane?” Top analysts, bankers and traders, possibly joined by a European Commissioner from the heart of the crisis
• The economic implications of the “Arab Spring” for the continent, featuring key Ministers who are rebuilding post-crisis countries, a strategist and others
• Capital markets and BRICS (see previous story on stock exchange link-ups) – hear from CEOs and Executive Directors of key BRICS stock exchanges and Emergent Asset Management
• Nursing Africa’s future IPOs: heads of top African stock exchanges from Mauritius to Morocco, via Ghana and maybe Nigeria, plus PAI Partners, a leading French private equity firm
• A new FTSE-ASEA African index.
Day 2 tackles
• Regulation for cross-border development: Regulators from Morocco and the central African stock exchange, plus long-term Africa bull stockbroker Jonathan Auerbach
• Cost-effective and scalable technology options for emerging markets exchanges – featuring Tony Weeresinghe of the LSE, Anne Ewing of NASDAQ and maybe Joseph Mecane of NYSE Euronext, 3 top suppliers of securities markets systems to the continent who hold many of the keys to the next stage of evolution.
• “What’s hot in Africa today?” with a host of top speakers from politics, consulting, banking, mining, economics and development finance covering energy, infrastructure, mining, industry, agribusiness and others.
OPINION: Please note the Day 2 morning topics address critical and urgent issues of how African stock exchanges can work across (colonial) borders to build liquid and effective markets, part of the grand process of African integration and building viable economies.
Expect participants from over 100 countries. The ASEA AGM and committee are on 11 Dec and the conference starts on 12 Dec. The official language is English with Arabic and French translations.
Unmissable! Book the conference here via the ASEA website (www.africansea.org).
Warning!! You may not want to come home. The conference is in Hotel Palmeraie Golf Palace & Spa. The conference website says: “As a backdrop, the majestic, silvery, sentry-like summits of the High Atlas stand out. At the foot of the mountain lies a beautiful city, built in red and surrounded by age-old palm trees. Monuments defying time form a string of pearls for her. An enticing labaryinth, created centuries ago, of old ramparts meanders along its slender “body”. In this fairy-tale decor, lies Marrakesh the legendary; Marrakesh the imperial, the pearl of the south, bathed by an invigorating sun all year round.”
September 27th, 2011 by Tom Minney
Mark Voss of fund manager Silk Invest (www.silkinvest.com) foresees a turning point for the Egyptian market in a recent note. He also notes growth in Tunisia, with companies back to pre-revolution levels, tourism boom in Morocco, giant growth in Ghana and telecom payments innovation in Kenya.
He says the company clearly sees value in the market, but the evolving politics has cast a cloud on investor sentimenty. “We believe this is now lifting as the country’s election commission chief announced a roadmap for parliamentary elections – and a crucial step in transitioning to civilian rule, from 21 November to 4 March 2012. This should also pave the way forward for the Presidential elections by early next year. Going forward, we suspect that this may mark a turning point in the market’s fortunes.” He adds that there is no shortage of lenders to help the country get back on its feet. He adds that core inflation was 6.9% in August from 8.7% in July and Suez Canal revenues climbed 8.5% year-on-year in August.
Also on the post-revolutionary theme, he looks at Tunisia and said it “continued its upward trend with many companies now back at their pre-Jasmine revolution price levels”. Tourism in Morocco was surging and by end of July was up nearly 10% year on year.
For the rest of Africa he pointed out that the IMF forecasts 13% GDP growth for Ghana this year and noted the Chinese gave a US$3 billion loan for further infrastructure developments. In Kenya: “interest rates were notched slightly up to help control inflation and reduce local currency volatility. Following an unexpected increase in harvested maize, food inflation in the country is expected to decline”. Telecoms innovation continues full speed in Kenya, as Airtel Kenya unveiled an online payment system enabling mobile subscribers to use handsets to make purchases online, while Safaricom and I&M Bank launched a service that allows M-pesa customers to transfer money from their accounts to a pre-paid visa card – which can be used globally.
September 8th, 2011 by Tom Minney
[SPONSORED STORY] Banking is changing fast and nowhere more than in the African markets, where growth opportunities are huge with some 250 million households still unbanked, but only for banks with the skills and technology to chase them. Banks are expanding fast across Africa, heralding new competition. Innovative banks are seizing opportunities served up by technology to reach out to millions of new customers and find ways to offer financial services that will help them increase bank revenues, through agency or branchless banking, microfinance, SMME lending, or mobile money, e-wallets and biometrics.
Banking strategies for the future revolve around “base of the pyramid”, “technology convergence”, “cloud” and “inclusive banking”. In order to grow against competitors, banks are moving into technology, from core banking systems, adding a range of user interfaces, including Internet, mobile phones, call centres. In 2011 banking leaders are moving to agency banking and branchless lending. Lessons can be learnt and the future charted for emerging markets, including India, South Africa, Kenya and Malaysia.
Speakers at a top conference “Technology Innovation for Banks in Growth Economies” set for London from 28-30 November include global banking leaders in development, SMME and micro-finance institutions such as Anil Kumar, (CEO of IFMR Rural Finance, India), Yolanda van Wyk (CEO Smart Services at First National Bank, South Africa), Sandeep Indurkar (Head Mobile Payments – Internet Banking and Mobile Banking, ICICI Bank, India). Technology and finance expert speakers include Gerhard Romen (Director Mobile Financial Services Nokia), Dr Tim Kelly (Lead ICT Policy Specialist, The World Bank) and Menno van Doorn (Director VINT Research Institute for the Analysis of New Technology). The agenda covers software-banking partnerships, the impact of broadband, government pressures towards financial inclusion, biometrics including fingerprinting, cloud-based technology for banking, e-wallets and banking in growth economies and technologies for scale.
The conference is aimed at banks across the emerging and frontier markets, particularly where their growth will be linked to new customers with growing incomes, also technology experts and banking system vendors, development finance experts, policy-makers and leading commentators.
Together they will discuss potential solutions to challenges such as:
• Poor connectivity – satellites, cable and changing national and regional regulation
• Central and development banks plans to upgrade current ICT infrastructure
• Infrastructure of tomorrow being prepared for the next stage of branchless banking
• Understanding infrastructure needed to support the alliance between telecoms and banking providers
• Can microfinance banks be a delivery channel hard-to-reach regions?
The first day, 28 November, consists of workshops: i) the fast-track on how ICT creates better delivery channels for financial products to reach the unbanked and ii) branchless banking – seize opportunities and mitigate risks.
The conference website http://technologyinnovation-banking.com gives details and bookings. Or call: +1 212 537 5898 or email: info@hansonwade.com. Early bird discount of up to GBP300 expires in 8 days.
July 6th, 2011 by Tom Minney
The dynamic Stock Exchange of Mauritius (www.stockexchangeofmauritius.com) is pushing ahead with a wide range of activities aimed at building its role as a secure base for international funding transactions and an African alternative to international listing venues. It is moving to becoming a multi-product exchange aimed at the international market, through rapid development from its origins as an exchange focused only on the domestic market.
According to the website: “In the years to come, the split of listings on SEM is expected to overwhelmingly consist of international funds, international issuers, specialized debt instruments, Africa-focused Exchange-traded funds and other structured products. As SEM also aspires to emerge as a capital-raising platform for Africa-focused investments routed through the Global Business Sector, the SEM platform will growingly (sic) be used to channel investment flows from SA/Europe/Asia into Africa and from USA/Europe into Asia.” Mauritius combines good regulation with flexibility and has been a key base for funds including private equity funds investing into Africa and into India.
The bourse is aiming for a wide range and growing numbers of issuers, players and investors, increasing the breadth and depth of the Mauritius market and integrating the Mauritius financial services sector within the international financial system.
It made major changes to the Listing Rules (early 2010) to align them with the government’s Collective Investment Schemes Regulations 2008, positioning SEM as an attractive venue for listing Global and Specialised Funds, in line with the strategic shifts. The Listing Rules are more flexible to reflect the specific attributes and characteristics of the specialised funds to be listed. SEM aims to be platform of choice for listing a wide variety of funds such as Specialised Collective Investment Schemes, Professional Collective Schemes Export Funds, Global Schemes as part of diversifying product offerings and emerging as an international exchange. The management also commits to aggressive timing in processing listing applications and a competitive listing fee structure. In May 2011, SEM introduced Chapter 18 in the SEM’s Listing Rules, to cater for the listing of specialist companies and specialist debt instruments, targeted at qualified investors.
It is one of the African leaders in multi-currency trading and (since 2010) can trade and settle equity and debt products in Euro and GBP. From June 2011 it was the first exchange in Africa to list, trade and settle equity products in USD.
It supplies real time data through top global vendors such as Thompson Reuters, Financial Times and Bloomberg (since early 2010). The data coverage by global vendors is a powerful marketing medium to enhance SEM’s visibility internationally and put the exchange on the radar screen of a wider spectrum of international investors, thus attracting more foreign investor interest on our market. Mauritius is one of the few African exchanges to be connected to Bloomberg and Thompson Reuters real-time. Growing interest from international investors has prompted index and data providers including Standard & Poors, Morgan Stanley, Dow Jones and FTSE to include SEM in new indexes recently launched to track the evolution of key frontier emerging markets.
Over the last 10 years, the Mauritius Bourse has attracted strong foreign investor interest, generating positive investment inflows into many listed companies. 2010 was a record year for net foreign investment inflows. “For 2011, we are already stepping up our efforts via international conferences and roadshows, to place the SEM on the radar screen of institutional investors who are keen on frontier emerging markets that are well regulated and adhere to international best practice”, says the website.
SEM also has ambitions to contribute more broadly to the development of the Mauritian economy and to help grow capital market activities nationally and throughout Africa.
Highlights of recent history
SEM became a full member of the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE – www.world-exchanges.org) in November 2005. This is a high standard and shows that SEM is in the top rank in terms of stringent standards and market principles required to be accepted to this status by the WFE, which sets the standards for registered securities markets worldwide. The standards are recognized by industry, regulators and supervisorss. The WFE membership helps ensure that foreign investors play a growing role – “in a typical year, foreign investments represent 25–35% of trading activities on our market” according to the website.
The Development & Enterprise Market (DEM) was set up in 2006 This is the market for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME’s) and newly set-up companies with sound business plans and showing growth potential. Companies can use the advantages and facilities of an organised and regulated market to raise capital for growth, to improve liquidity in their shares, to obtain an objective market valuation and to enhance their corporate image.
Since March 2010, the SEM was designated by the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) as an “Approved Stock Exchange” by virtue of its membership of the WFE for the purposes of CIMA’s Mutual Funds Law, Banks and Trust Companies Law, Insurance Law, Companies Management Law and Securities Investment Business Law. This raises SEM’s profile as a well-structured and properly regulated exchange and enhances SEM’s position as an attractive listing venue for global and specialised funds.
From 31 January 2011, SEM has been designated by the United Kingdom tax authorities, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), as a “recognised Stock Exchange” under section 1005 (1) (b) Income Tax Act 2007. This means that securities admitted to trading and listed on the Official Market of the SEM will meet the HMRC interpretation of “listed” as set out in section 1005 (3) (a) and (3) (b) Income Tax Act 2007 and for Inheritance Tax purposes. This designation confers potential benefits such as permitting UK pension schemes to hold securities listed on the Official Market of SEM, giving companies and funds listed on SEM access to a larger market of sophisticated, well-capitalised investors. The designation reinforces SEM’s attractiveness as a listing venue for global funds and specialized products. Securities listed on the Official Market of the SEM may be held in tax advantaged Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs) and Personal Equity Plans (PEPs) by UK investors. Holders of debt securities satisfying the Eurobond exemption and listed on the Official Market of the SEM are exempted from withholding tax on distributions underlying these debt securities. Inheritance tax advantages may accrue to UK holders of securities listed on the Official Market of the SEM.
June 14th, 2011 by Tom Minney
The Egyptian Exchange (www.egyptse.com) is to introduce new products and trading innovations, including remote orders placed abroad, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), intraday trades and short selling. Mohamed Abdel Salam, chairman of the Exchange, told Reuters that transparency was up and political uncertainty was down in Egypt since the political uprising that overthrew former president Hosni Mubarak and this is bringing more investor confidence.
The trading changes had been delayed as the political mandate of the old government decreased. Some innovations could be introduced in July and talks on remote orders are to resume with the London Stock Exchange (www.londonstockexchange.com) on 20 June.
Mohamed Abdel Salam told Reuters in an interview on 13 June: “There are indicators that show the market is improving because of the revolution. First, it reduced political risk. In the past, things were vague. If the president were to die, would his son take over, or would the army? Many people have started trusting us now, and we are also trying to reduce transaction costs on foreign investors … so I think we will now introduce short-selling and intraday trade in the first days of July.”
He said that companies had been on time in publishing quarterly results, indicating the effects of the revolution on their earnings, and this improved the country’s credibility. In addition, since the changes institutional investors had become more prominent: “The market is becoming more stable, because institutional investors have begun to outnumber individual investors, who used to cause sharp market moves by their emotional trading.” Egypt is one of the African exchanges with very many active local individual shareholders.
He said the aim of the changes is to bring new energy into the exchange: “Egypt’s market is in need of new blood to be pumped in; it needs new products … It is unarguable that this is a main way to increase liquidity and volume.” Previously there had been moves to introduce short selling in 2008 but this had not been introduced in 2010 as scheduled.
Remote orders with FIX
The Egyptian Exchange aims to allow investors to place orders from abroad although trading would still have to be executed through a local broker. Investors could use the Financial Information eXchange (FIX) protocol (www.fixprotocol.org) to place orders and secure the details until the transaction was completed by the broker. The first link was due to be introduced via London in mid-2010, reports the agency, followed by links to centres in the Gulf. The Chairman said the delays had been caused by technical problems at the LSE and talks would resume this week on 20 June.
Another plan is for dual-listings with exchanges such as Qatar, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Kuwait. Abdel Salam said: “There are Gulf companies that expressed a desire to enrol in the Egyptian stock exchange but I cannot disclose names now.” Several exchanges have been vying to form the centre of Arab trading.
Commodity trading in gold could be established through a fund and talks are on with Egypt’s Chamber of Metallurgical Industries. The Chairman said: “We want to introduce a new way to trade gold called ETC, standing for Exchange Traded Commodities; this should facilitate trading of raw gold, and Egypt is a strategic gold producer, so we should make use of it.”
The Egyptian Exchange was closed from 27 January to 23 March after the popular uprising and it faced turbulence and pent-up demand when it did open. The benchmark EGX 30 Index closed on 13 June at 5,550.22, down 17.5% since the revolution although the trend has been positive since a low of 4,850.41 on 8 May.
March 12th, 2011 by Tom Minney
The Nairobi Stock Exchange has bought a new broker back office (BBO) system which it hopes will boost liquidity and attract listings, including offering online trading. The exchange and the vendor, Chella Software of India, are training personnel at stockbrokers, investment banks and others and aim to go live this month (March). The system cost KSh75 million (US$880,000).
The BBO system will reduce fraud and make it easier for brokers to offer online trading to their clients. Peter Mwangi, chief executive of the NSE, was quoted in local media as saying: “We expect to go live by the end of the first quarter (March).”
The BBO system will be integrated in brokers’ management and accounting information systems and offers end-to-end automated solutions with seamless integration to electronic trading, central depository and the national clearing and payment systems. Brokers whose clients trade online will earn commissions on trades.
The BBO is part of market reforms to restore investor confidence. There had been uproar when some rogue brokerage firms failed after trading shares without their clients’ consent. The Capital Markets Authority and the NSE will automatically track all transactions and the system will limit other malpractices.
Stockbroking members were free to choose to use the centralised system, controlled by the NSE, or to create or buy their own systems. The NSE website lists 20 broking members of which 2 are under statutory management. An estimated 95% of the stockbrokers reportedly chose the centralized system as it will cut their costs. The NSE BBO system costs KSh2 mn plus approximately KSh136,000 in monthly charges.
Mwangi told Reuters in an interview: “Market players can now spend more time on value addition such as research, providing advice to investors and enhancing portfolio management for the investment bankers. This system has better controls and balance against malpractice, improving risk management and easing compliance and surveillance for the NSE and Capital Markets Authority,”
The CMA established an internal anti-fraud unit, which has so far recovered millions of shillings stolen in unauthorised transactions. It posted a list of alleged fraudsters.
Mwangi believes the BBO system will attract new investors, especially young people, and increase the participation of retail investors: “The demographics of the markets are changing … young people are early adopters of technology. They are tech savvy, always online and are on their mobile phones. This offering addresses them.”
Kenyans in North America and Europe send home the majority of some $50 mn a month, some for investing in property and securities. They will be able to trade online or queue orders for when the market opens if the time differences are too great.
Mwangi told Reuters: “The more investors you have, the more you are able to mobilise domestic borrowing for investments, raise the level of savings, market capitalisation and turnover.” He also expects it will be more attractive for companies to be listed for trading on teh NSE: “To list new companies you have to show them you have a liquid market and investing in technology helps you demonstrate that.”