Archive for the 'Regulators' Category
April 18th, 2013 by Tom Minney
The regional forum, the East African Securities Regulatory Authorities (EASRA), is seeking to create a harmonized licensing framework for the region for brokers and dealers, and has also approved draft regulations on book-building for adoption by its members. The draft book-building regulations are to be shared with stakeholders in the member States and their views will be brought to the next EASRA meeting.
Book-building is a process of determining the price at which an initial public offering will be offered. The book is filled with the prices that investors indicate they are willing to pay per share, and when the book is closed, the issue price is determined by an underwriter by analyzing these values.
According to news reports, Joseph Katto, chairman EASRA and CEO of Capital Markets Authority – Uganda, said that book-building can be an effective mechanism for price discovery and demand assessment if regulations are clear and enshrine transparency, The draft regulations would ensure a level playing field for various investor categories.
EASRA also approved a proposal to establish a harmonized licensing requirement framework for stock-brokers and dealers. The proposed framework will guide the drafting of harmonized regulations for licensing within the region.
The decisions were taken during the 37th Consultative meeting held in Kampala, Uganda on 5 April.
EASRA members are also seeking ways to facilitate joint inspection programmes and investigations where two or more member states agree. This would boost cross-border surveillance for market participants who operate across the region..
The meeting was chaired by Katto and was attended by Mrs Nasama Massinda (CEO, Capital Markets and Securities Authority Tanzania), Paul Muthaura (CMA-Kenya), Robert Mathu (CEO CMA-Rwanda), Joseph Bahizi (Representative of Central Bank of Burundi), members of the EASRA technical committees and other Committee members.
EASRA was set up in terms of a memorandum of understanding between the CMAs of Kenya and Uganda, and CMSA Tanzania. They adopted a common blue print on the integration of the East African Capital Markets in 1997. CMA Rwanda later joined and Central Bank of Burundi in 2011.
March 4th, 2013 by Tom Minney
The International Organization of Securities Commissions (www.iosco.org) published today (4 March) a report on liquidity risk management for collective investment schemes (CIS). This aims to make sure in particular that open-ended funds (where people can sell their units back to the fund when they want their money back) can meet their obligations for redemptions and other liabilities.
Liquidity has been a major preoccupation for regulators in many financial industries since the outbreak of the global financial crisis. But discussions have mostly focused on liquidity in banking.
Today’s report is Principles of Liquidity Risk Management for Collective Investment Schemes and contains principles against which both the industry and regulators can assess the quality of regulation and industry practices. Good liquidity risk management is key in correct operation of a CIS.
The principles are structured according to the time frame of a CIS’s life: first principles to be considered in the design (pre-launch) phase of a CIS; then principles that should form part of the day-to-day liquidity risk management process. When industry is implementing the principles, they will have to rewrite (“transpose”) them while taking into account the local regulatory framework
IOSCO had previously published (Jan 2012) a report on Principles on Suspensions of Redemptions in Collective Investment Schemes which covers exceptional circumstances where a liquidity problem may lead a CIS to temporarily suspend all investor redemptions.
IOSCO is the leading international policy forum for securities regulators and is the global standard setter for securities regulation. The organization’s membership regulates more than 95% of the world’s securities markets in 115 jurisdictions and it continues to expand. Its Board is the governing and standard-setting body and is made up of 32 securities regulators and chaired by Masamichi Kono, Vice Commissioner for International Affairs at the Financial Services Agency of Japan (JFSA). Members are the securities regulatory authorities of Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Ontario, Pakistan, Portugal, Quebec, Romania, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, United Kingdom and the United States.
January 11th, 2013 by Tom Minney
Kenya is seeking to step up corporate governance in the capital market and guard against risks that threaten the financial system. The Capital Markets Authority (www.cma.or.ke) has announced today (11 January) that it has appointed a 9-member Capital Markets Corporate Governance Committee.
CMA Acting Chief Executive Paul Muthaura commented in a press release: “Since the issuance of the ‘Guidelines to Corporate Governance Practices by Listed Companies’ in 2002, there have been several developments nationally, regionally, and internationally precipitating the need for special attention to be paid to corporate governance to guard against risks that would threaten the financial system. Recent marketplace activities have pointed to the need to review the appropriateness of our regulatory regimes in light of the complexity of the challenges before us to ensure that we succeed in striking appropriate balances and manage costs of compliance.”
He said the committee should guide regular reviews of corporate governance standards for listed companies, in line with international best practice and trends; drive amendments to the corporate governance guidelines and regulations; identify legal and institutional strengthening requirements; address weaknesses in enforcement; and strengthen capacity building and professionalism of key stakeholders.
Ms Catherine Musakali, current chair of the Institute of Certified Public Secretaries of Kenya,will chair the committee and the members are: Ms Maryanne Macheru of the Registrar of Companies/Attorney General’s Office; Ms. Jackline Nyandege of the Ethics and Integrity Institute, nominated by the State Corporations Advisory Committee; Mr. Job Kihumba representing the Nairobi Securities Exchange; Rev. Geoffrey Njenga from the Centre for Corporate Governance; Mr. Mirie Mwangi from the University of Nairobi Business School; Mr. Mahmood Manji representing the CMA Board; Dr. Gituro Wainanina appointed as an independent member with experience on Corporate Governance from a regulatory perspective; and Mr James Mworia representing listed companies.
November 28th, 2012 by Tom Minney
The 86 emerging markets members of the world’s securities markets regulator, International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) (www.iosco.org), form 80% of IOSCO membership and are increasingly important in the global economy. They have backed the setting up of IOSCO Foundation, to boost funding so IOSCO can scale up research, education and training and technical assistance. IOSCO, the leading international policy forum for securities regulators, is recognized as the global standard setter. The organization’s membership regulates more than 95% of the world’s securities markets in 115 jurisdictions and it continues to expand.
IOSCO’s Emerging Markets Committee (EMC) met on 19-21 Nov in Santiago, Chile, and was reported in this IOSCO news release. It includes the world’s fastest growing economies and 10 members of the important G-20 group of countries. New members are still joining, boosting its role in IOSCO. The Chairman of EMC has a seat on IOSCO’s influential Financial Stability Board.
EMC Chairman Vedat Akgiray of the Capital Markets Board, Turkey said: “Since the distribution of global economic wealth is continuously changing in favour of today’s rapidly growing emerging markets, as the future candidates for being developed economies, ‘proper’ securities regulation in today’s emerging markets is tantamount to ‘proper’ regulation of tomorrow’s developed markets. Therefore, emerging markets within IOSCO and the global financial system are much more important than they were in the past.”
A task force is working on ensuring emerging markets have a stronger voice in IOSCO. According to Akgiray: “A stronger role for the EMC in the future is supported by its members, given its growing importance in the global financial markets and international bodies. The new structure and the functions of the EMC in IOSCO after 2014 will be designed in the coming months, with more importance given to market development and capacity building activities.”
EMC members also debated their perceptions of major emerging risks in their jurisdictions, as part of an IOSCO effort to anticipate systemic risks before they disrupt markets. They warned of spill-over effects from developed economies’ crises, the unintended consequences of some global regulatory reforms as they are applied to emerging markets, sudden capital withdrawals and their impact on liquidity, and the expanding regulatory perimeter. Members highlighted the following as major concerns and challenges, among others:
• Capacity-building, investor education, financial inclusion and literacy to rebuild trust in capital markets;
• Strengthening corporate governance, developing SME financing and corporate bond markets;
• Predominance of bank financing;
• Complex financial products and institutions;
• Risk management and risk-based supervision,
• Development of corporate bond markets
Foundation
IOSCO secretary-general David Wright who started in March (see IOSCO press release) said one of his core priorities was boosting IOSCO’s funding to help aid its work in assisting emerging market regulators with technical advice. He was reported on eFinancial News as saying: “Helping develop emerging markets’ securities markets and ensuring that they are fully on board at a decision-making level is fundamentally important to the global economy.
“As banks become ever more constrained in terms of leverage, and the public sector is starved of cash for years, if not decades, then the securities markets will have to play a much greater role in capital allocation. For that reason, we must have a vision for a truly global securities market, based on the application of rigorous standards.”
The Foundation is to be proposed at the IOSCO Board meeting in March 2013 in Sydney. Paul Muthaura, Acting CEO of the Capital Markets Authority Kenya, said: “The Capital Markets Authority Kenya and indeed the whole East African Securities Regulatory Community warmly welcome the launch of the IOSCO Foundation. This initiative is central to mobilizing the critical resources necessary for capacity building, training exposure and research support that are at the core of supporting emerging markets to converge with international standards of the Foundation.”
MMoU
A key tool of IOSCO is the framework for the Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding Concerning Consultation and Cooperation and the Exchange of Information which enables regulators to exchange information in the case of an investigation, boosting international enforcement and effective global regulation of securities markets. IOSCO members who have not yet signed are encouraged to do so by January 2013. So far 89 IOSCO members have signed and another 30 are invited to be listed in Appendix B, members who are committed to becoming signatories but lack legal authority to comply. Two members of EMC have not applied to sign the MMoU. South Africa, Nigeria and most recently Tanzania are Appendix A signatories in Africa, as reported on this blog in May.
Ranjit Ajit Singh, the Vice Chair of the EMC and Chairman, Securities Commission Malaysia, said: “Our role as securities regulators in emerging markets has become undeniably more challenging as capital markets in emerging economies grow in size and take on a more significant role in financing global economic growth. The Emerging Markets Committee will therefore need to play an increasingly more significant role within IOSCO and the wider regulatory policy framework to contribute to international efforts in regulatory reform and market stability.”
NOTE: Vedat Akgiray, Chairman of IOSCO’s Emerging Markets Committee, Vice Chairman of IOSCO’s board and Chairman of the Capital Markets Board in Turkey will be a speaker on the panel “Capital Market Reforms: Impact of Global Regulations on Emerging Market Economie” next Monday (3 Dec) at the African Stock Exchanges Association conference (ASEA 2012) in Cairo, Egypt. Other speakers are Dr Ashraf El Sharkawy, Chairman of the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (EFSA) and Bob Singletary, PFS Senior Capital Markets Advisor and Principal, Lenzie Fisher Hendry LLC (and I will be moderator). For more details of the conference, look here: http://www.aseaegypt2012.org.
November 6th, 2012 by Tom Minney
Some African governments are making it easier to do business in their countries, but it remains a key challenge. Excessive and unhelpful regulation put off local and foreign investors all over Africa and growth and development is held back by governments that lack interest and capacity to foster private sector growth which brings jobs, improvements to currency flows and tax revenues. Many African economies could score at low outlay by finding ways to streamline and improve business regulations, including systems to prune and get rid of old or contradictory laws, and by improving capacity at business licencing, tax and other government departments.
The business environment is rising higher on the agenda of African governments and more progress is being made, but there are still major issues. A leading report is the Doing Business report series by the International Finance Corporation and the World Bank of which the 2013 edition was published on 23 October. Two weeks earlier, on 15 October, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation published its latest Ibrahim Index on African Governance (IIAG). Since 2006, the categories Sustainable Economic Opportunity and Human Development have scored the strongest performances but there have been improvements in all of the sub-categories and over the last decade governance has improved across the continent.
The World Bank and IFC report, Doing Business 2013: Smarter Regulations for Small and Medium-Size Enterprises found that from June 2011 to June 2012, 28 of 46 sub-Saharan African governments implemented at least 1 regulatory reform making it easier to do business—a total of 44 reforms. Mauritius and South Africa are the only African economies among the top 40 in the global ranking. Sub-Saharan Africa is home to 17 out of the 50 economies which have made the most improvement in business regulation for domestic firms since 2005. Over the life of the report – this is the 10th edition – Africa has consistently recorded a high number of reforms and is increasingly competitive as a place to do business with other parts of the world.
Rwanda is a particular star of Doing Business, as having consistently improved since 2005 and a case study in this year’s report shows that it has implemented 26 regulatory reforms since then. In the past year Burundi has made 4 reforms and ranked among the 10 economies worldwide that improved the most across 3 or more areas measured by Doing Business—the only low-income economy on the list. The report says Sierra Leone is a major improver and adds that Liberia has been the 4th fastest improving country since 2007, with advances this year in electricity infrastructure and contract enforcement
Augusto Lopez-Claros, Director, Global Indicators and Analysis, World Bank Group, said in a press release: “Doing Business is about smart business regulations, not necessarily fewer regulations,” said. “We are very encouraged that so many economies in Africa are among the 50 that have made the most improvement since 2005 as captured by the Doing Business indicators.” African economies that have improved the most since then include Rwanda, Burkina Faso, Mali, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Burundi, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, Angola, Mauritius, Madagascar, Mozambique, Côte d’Ivoire, Togo, Niger, Nigeria, São Tomé and Príncipe.
Singapore has been top of the global ranking on the ease of doing business for 7 years. The top 10 for business-friendly regulation were Hong Kong SAR, China; New Zealand; the United States; Denmark; Norway; the United Kingdom; the Republic of Korea; Georgia; and Australia.
Top 3 of the Mo Ibrahim IIAG are Mauritius, Cape Verde and Botswana, while Tanzania is highlighted as an improver and joined the top ten. Rising stars include Liberia which makes impressive development progress and scores major improvements over the past 5 years in safety and the rule of law (up 17.5 points) and in sustainable economic opportunity (a 10.5 point rise). Liberia has moved up 13 places in the rankings to number 34. Guinea has made progress on sustainable economic opportunity, participation and human rights since 2010 and climbed to 42. Sierra Leone has also improved its overall score with advances in safety and the rule of law with its score improving by 16.5 points in 5 years to number 30 in the index, up 10 places since 2006.
There is an excellent and brief report here on the top 10 African countries written by Ryan Hoover, of the highly recommended www.investinginafrica.net.
November 5th, 2012 by Tom Minney
According to news reports, the Board of the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange is close to negotiating an exit package with CEO Emmanuel Munyukwi, who was suspended in May. Board chairperson Eve Gadzikwa was reported by The Independent’s businessdigest that the board was in the process of concluding negotiations and an announcement is due in the coming week. ZSE operations executive Martin Matanda is acting chief executive.
Munyukwi has been CEO since 2001 but has been a key manager of the ZSE before that and was a valued colleague when this correspondent was running the Namibian Stock Exchange before 2000. The businessdigest suggests that although Munyukwi had been suspended on charges of alleged incompetence, currently the Board was negotiating an exit package with him and a figure of US$1 million was mentioned. Tony Barfoot, the previous CEO of the ZSE, was reportedly removed as consultant in April 2012, according to a report in Newsday.
There is no news on who will be the new head of the ZSE. It is possible that a potential candidate will be sought among Zimbabweans with experience of working in an automated and advanced securities exchange.
The Securities and Exchange Commission of Zimbabwe is reportedly working with the ZSE, introducing a central securities depository and electronic trading, with plans to automate the ZSE by March 2013, according to the news reports. One report says that SECZ has contracted a private company to develop a framework for establishing an electronic securities trading platform. State-owned ZB Financial Holdings has 13% of the CSD, National Social Security Authority 13% and Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe 10%, according to a shareholding agreement. The Expression of Interest tender for the CSD was published in 2010.
SECZ is also working with the ZSE on demutualization, although the ZSE is a private company more structural transformation may be possible. The tender for the advisory work on “ZSE Privatization” had a closing date of either March or September 2012, but the bidder was supposed to find their own funding for the work.
The Securities Act was amended in August 2012 to make SECZ more effective, extend its powers and give more protection to investors. This requires all securities exchanges in Zimbabwe to be companies, not mutual associations or other corporate bodies. There is a single Investor Protection Fund and the SECZ takes over regulation of asset managers and managers of collective investment schemes from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. The CEO of the SECZ is Tafadzwa Chinamo.
Listings Executive Lina Mushanguri also told businessdigest that the ZSE is drafting a framework to set up a board for small and medium enterprises as part of the ZSE, which she said they would call it the “SMEs Stock Exchange”. This will have adjusted rules and regulations. The newspaper reports that income for the ZSE “last year” was $1.6m and expenses were $1.0 million, giving a surplus of $612,947. The ZSE website has been inoperative for many months and the ZSE annual report is not available online.
By 2 November the ZSE market capitalization had climbed back to $4 billion, after being below this for more than a year. It reached a high of nearly $4.3 billion in May-June 2011. Foreign investors contributed 80% of turnover in October, according to a report in the Standard newspaper.
November 5th, 2012 by Tom Minney
Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (www.sec.gov.ng) hopes to boost liquidity on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (www.nse.com.ng) by getting previously privatized enterprises to list their shares. Arunma Oteh, Director General of the SEC, also said that demutualization of the NSE is on track, according to a report in the local Vanguard newspaper, and the commission is still working on the framework and guideline to before the exercise starts.
Oteh said the SEC is to meet the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE): “The Commission will be working with the BPE to ensure that already privatized entities before now are listed on the NSE based on the agreement they had with the Bureau. For instance Eleme Petrochemical, one of the companies previously privatized, is doing well and the portion of government shares could be listed on the exchange to allow the indigenes own stake and participate in the fortune of the entity.” She said recently privatized power sector companies could boost the volume and value of transactions by listing on the NSE.
She also praised efforts by the NSE to attract more companies to list: “This is the reason why the Commission approved the multiple listing requirements recommended by the NSE. This has not been in existence before now.”
Demutualization
Demutualization is a process for turning an exchange from a mutual association, usually owned by stockbrokers and other stakeholders, into a for-profit company. It can split ownership from licences to trade and in some cases, such as London and Johannesburg, the stock exchange itself becomes a listed entity. Ms Oteh said: “The committee on demutualization has finished its work and we are currently working on the frame work and guideline that will be put in place. Once we are through, the Commission will announce it. Demutualization will ensure owners of the Exchange get real value of their entity.”
She also said the SEC is working with the Association of Stock-broking Houses of Nigeria (ASHON) to consolidate stockbrokers and a committee on market development is still working to find ways to address minimum capital requirements, upgrading technology, and capacity-building, among others. She said a new guideline is expected from the National Pension Commission (www.pencom.gov.ng) which will further boost activities in the market.
October 16th, 2012 by Tom Minney
Kenya’s Capital Markets Authority (CMA) is pushing the development of the capital market through today’s (16 Oct) launch of a 16-member steering committee to formulate the Capital Markets Master Plan (CMMP) covering the next 5 years of development.
The plan is to be finished within 9-12 months, after consultations that started in November 2011. The committee includes Paul Kavuma as independent chairperson, the acting Chief Executive of CMA Paul Muthaura, Donald Ouma of the Nairobi Securities Exchange and representatives of the Ministry, Central Bank of Kenya, nominees from the Kenya Association of Stockbrokers and Investment Banks, Kenya Bankers Association and the Fund Manager Association.
The CMMP aims to ensure that Kenya’s capital market supports national economic growth and meets future challenges from regional competition and globalisation as Kenya endeavours to be an international financial services hub, according to this press release from the CMA.
Meanwhile the CMA will continue to engage with the industry to implement current reforms geared at deepening and developing the capital markets, including restructuring the bond market, introducing infrastructure and county bonds, introducing real-estate investment products, facilitating access to capital by small and medium enterprises (SMEs), reviewing the legal framework, and the continuing demutualization of the Nairobi Securities Exchange.
September 18th, 2012 by Tom Minney
Today (18 Sept) the Nigerian Stock Exchange is to launch its market-making programme, according to its press release. This will be a hybrid process, with market makers offering 2-way (buy-sell) price quotes in selected securities and a continuation of the current process in which licensed broker/dealers of the NSE submit orders.
The launch follows drawing up rules and operational guidelines. Role-players such as market makers, securities lenders, short sellers, settlement banks, pension fund administrators, insurance companies and listed companies have been trained, including in an 11 Sept workshop.
According to Bloomberg, citing stockbroker Securities Africa Ltd, price bandwidth movement has been increased to 10% for stocks that have market makers assigned to them, instead of the current 5%. Bloomberg cites David Adonri, CEO of Lagos-based Lambeth Trust and Investment Co: “Brokers have been informed of the new limit which is intended to make market making function properly, as widening the price band will enable market makers to recoup investments in stocks, cover risk and remain in business.”
Olumide Lala, the Head, Transformation and Change of the NSE, said that market makers will provide 2-way quotes (buy and sell prices) for the securities that they are making markets on. They will be able to leverage the securities lending process and borrow to settle “buy order imbalances” from customers. Investors will be able to use the securities lending processes to earn returns on their “idle” stocks whilst contributing significantly to market liquidity and price efficiency through legitimate investment activity in covered short selling.
The Nigerian bourse announced the names of the 10 broker/dealer firms selected as market makers on the trading floor of the NSE at the start of April 2012, after a rigorous selection process. Oscar Onyema, CEO of the NSE, described it as a major landmark in enhancing the liquidity and depth of the second largest market in sub-Saharan Africa: “This is a great milestone and a major step in the direction of turning the market round to have liquidity and depth back into the market. We will continue to move forward on this”.
The 10 stock-broking firms selected from a list of 20 that applied were: Stanbic IBTC, Renaissance Capital, Future View Securities, Vetiva Capital, ESS/DunnLoren Merrifield, WSTC, Capital Bancorp, FBN Securities, Greenwich Securities and CSL Stockbrokers.
According to Onyema: “The companies selected went through a very rigorous process and met the minimum net capital requirement of N570 million ($3.6m). We also examined their compliance history and looked into their operational capabilities including their technology and processes. The selected firms were taken through trainings, debated the appropriate market structure to be used and The Exchange further went through the approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the selection process.” The April announcement also included the selection of a basket of quoted companies in which the financial intermediaries would provide the desired level of liquidity via a blind draw.
April 24th, 2012 by Tom Minney
A new securities exchange in Lusaka (Zambia) is installing tried-and-tested bond and derivative trading software and says it will be ready to launch operations next month, May 2012. BaDEx has trading platforms that include spot and derivative trading in bonds, currency, commodities (such as derivatives on metals and silo certificates on the spot market) and a variety of other derivatives including agricultural commodities, precious metals, equity and energy.
There is also a central scrip depository system (CSD) with a separate core management, risk solution, surveillance and settlement systems and platforms. The CSD will apparently link to CSDs in South Africa, Europe and the US and with the central Bank of Zambia’s real-time gross settlement system.
BaDEx, also known as Bond and Derivatives Exchange, reports that it was licensed by Zambia’s Securities and Exchange Commission on 1 January 2012 and the licence covers all securities under the Securities Act – bonds, equity, derivatives and commodities. It has signed a contract effective 12 March with South Africa’s STT (www.sttsoftware.co.za, which has also provided the JSE’s bond trading software for many years), for STT to immediately deploy trading, clearing, settlement and surveillance systems, and systems for auctioning government securities that will be suitable for the central bank, among others.
Dominic Kabanje, CEO of BaDEx, told AfricanCapitalMarketsNews that the exchange is a public-liability company owned by “banks, pension funds and private companies including the major securities dealers in Zambia”. He says they started with 6 local stockbroking members (approach stockbrokers Madison Asset, Integral Initiatives, Intermarket Securities, Laurence Paul Investment Services, Pangaea Renaissance, African Alliance Securities for more information) but are also looking for remote members, working with a South African merchant bank.
Mr Kabanje said they are now doing primary listings. BaDEx will start secondary trading using an online, Internet-based platform when the systems go live and are also seeking to partner with an international clearing house. In a press release he said they had been excited for 18 months: “We are glad to have finally concluded and signed the contract with our software systems vendors. STT applications have been tried and tested in the South African financial markets at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), who have used this software for the past 18 years.
“We are currently setting up a network of domestic and foreign-based settlement banks, local and remote foreign members and dealers, institutional underwriters, a clearing house as well as primary panels of domestic, regional and international investors. We plan to link up all willing domestic and regional banks, institutional investors, pension funds, treasury departments, the local central bank, the government debt management office and the local member brokers to our system by providing interfaces and online access to our platforms.
“We will also shortly join the international community of CSDs in South Africa, Europe and the United States initially to facilitate faster and smoother clearing of international securities transactions. The applications from STT and others will enable us to do this and in addition will allow us to compete internationally for bond and derivatives business”.
“I do not see any obstacles from the Zambian side for companies wishing to list. Even SA companies can list on BaDEx. We want Zambian companies to dual list on JSE and BaDEx. At BaDEx we are implementing SADC protocols on the free-trade area as well as enhancing intra-regional trade. An exchange is one such conduit for regional trade. We will, however, have to deal with the problem of exchange controls in SA.”
Michelle Janke, STT’s Managing Director, said the company was happy to reach further into SADC: “We have worked closely with the executives of BaDEx for more than a year, and the closely formed relationship will stand us in good stead over the coming months whilst we deliver all the software applications and prepare the new securities market in Zambia to go live. We hope that in due course through an ongoing cooperation between BaDEx and regional merchant banks we can assist in transforming Lusaka into a key financial hub within the SADC region. We will be there to make this happen operationally.”
Products to be traded include: corporate bonds, municipal bonds, currency futures and options, interest-rate derivatives (including swaps), equity derivatives and commodity derivatives on underlying copper, cobalt, gold, oil, wheat, soya and maize spot markets, bond derivatives market, spot bond market, spot and currency derivatives market, commodities derivatives (including metals) and the commodities spot markets (with silo certificates), agricultural derivatives market, spot equity and equity derivatives markets, precious metals derivatives market and energy derivatives market.