adminEnacy Mapakame Business Reporter
A delegation of stakeholders in capital markets from the Kingdom of Eswatini (Swaziland), is in the country to familiarise themselves with the automated trading platform before starting live trades on their stock exchange.
The team comprises members of the stock exchange, brokers, transfer secretaries, central bank and other key stakeholders of that country’s capital markets. This follows the successful launch of an automated trading platform on the Eswatini Stock Exchange (ESE) in February this year using C-Trade technology. Last year Zimbabwe launched the C-Trade, which effectively opened capital markets to all and enhance financial inclusion.
Escrow Systems, a subsidiary of Escrow Group provided the technology that also enables mobile and online share trading.
Escrow Systems managing director Simbarashe Machanzi said the team would be in the country on a week-long familiarisation mission following the successful implementation of the platform in Zimbabwe and later its launch in Eswatini.
“We have installed the platform in the Kingdom of Eswatini on their stock exchange. The project was concluded in February this year and the team is now in Zimbabwe to learn more about the platform. Our market is already automated so they are here to learn about how automated markets operate practically and we are training them on this so they can take it back and start going live for proper transactions on their stock market.
“The past two years were installation, implementation and test run, now they are preparing to start processing their real trades on the platform,” he said in an interview with The Herald Business.
The system allows for trading of both bonds and shares using C-Trade, an end to end innovation that harnesses and promotes participation of every type of investor on the stock markets, through mobile and Internet-based platforms while linking all capital markets participation. ESE monitoring and surveillance officer Neliswa Nkala said this was a positive development for her country’s capital markets that would help demystify the stock markets.
This, she said, would also bring efficiency to the stock market, while opening up to both local and foreign investors.
“Trading used to be manual, fewer companies listed while locals would also shy away from the market due to lack of investor knowledge. With automated trading platform, it will help us to reach more investors and more companies will be attracted to list on the stock exchange. This platform will enhance ease of doing business on the stock market.
“Our Visit to Zimbabwe is to gain more knowledge on this, we want to make sure that we use the system proficiently at Eswatini Stock Exchange. So this training will address any loopholes on the technical aspect. The system itself is excellent and we trust that if we use it professionally, it will do nothing but good for the stock exchange,” she said.
Through this technological innovation, small retail investors, right up to the largest institutions, can have direct access to the equities markets.
In Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) and the Financial Securities Exchange (Private) Limited (FINSEC) already have systems in place that list and trade bonds.
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