ZSE overhaul in sight as Govt moves to slash listing costs and revive bourse competitiveness

Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube

Nelson Gahadza

Senior Business Reporter

THE Government may review Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) listing rules and regulations to reduce the cost of doing business and make the domestic currency-based securities exchange more competitive in attracting new listings and facilitating capital raising.

Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion Minister Mthuli Ncube said the Government wanted the ZSE to come up with proposals to lower the costs associated with listing and operating on the bourse, amid growing competition among Zimbabwe’s capital markets platforms.

Prof Ncube said this was necessary to ensure the ZSE remained an effective vehicle for mobilising capital and attracting investment, while allowing it to complement rather than compete with the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange (VFEX) and other specialised exchanges.

“An issue that we need to deal with on the ZSE is just the cost of doing business within the ZSE. I have asked management to come back to me with proposals so that those costs can be lower, so it becomes a competitive exchange,” Prof Ncube said.

The treasury chief was speaking during a media engagement in Victoria Falls following the listing of Old Mutual Limited on the VFEX on August 7.

The comments come against the backdrop of increasing interest by companies in the VFEX, which was established in 2020 as a United States dollar-denominated securities market based in the Victoria Falls Financial Centre.

Some companies that migrated from ZSE to VFEX cited issues such as currency considerations, transaction costs and the need for a market platform that better aligns with their capital-raising and investment requirements.

The shift has raised questions over the competitiveness of the ZSE and whether the migration of established counters could gradually weaken its role as Zimbabwe’s primary equities market.

However, Prof Ncube said the Government did not view the development of the VFEX as a replacement for the ZSE, arguing that the two exchanges had different but complementary roles within the broader financial market architecture.