ZSE, FINSEC mobile trading by month end

Published: 15 June 2018

MOBILE trading in securities on the country's major exchanges, the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) and Financial Securities Exchange (FINSEC), is set to commence by month end.

Eliah Sarayi, spokesperson of Escrow Group, which is the technology provider of C-TRADE, the platform that enables the online and mobile trading of securities listed on the two exchanges, told The Financial Gazette this week that the launch is set for the end of this month. The system is currently undergoing trails with good progress having been made so far.

"The launch of the Online and Mobile Trading is scheduled for the end of this month… we can confirm that the system is undergoing tests by various parties. The tests have been ongoing for the past months and tremendous progress has been made," said Sarayi.

Interest in equities on the local stock market has been thickening over the past two months as the country's monetary crisis persists.

Companies and individuals that have excess liquidity are keen to convert it into value retaining assets, of which, stocks are a prime example.

Mobile trading will make equities on the ZSE more accessible in a way that may impact significantly on the dynamics of the market as the country heads into the polls.

Sarayi said Escrow has been working with various stakeholders to fine tune the system which is available through Unstructured Supplementary Service Data or USSD, Android and a web portal.

"The testing is involving various market participants which include both exchanges namely ZSE and FINSEC, Chengetedzai Depository Company, Mobile Network Operators, selected banks, selected stockbrokers, selected investors and the country's leading tertiary institutions.

"With our various partners, we are in the process of switching to the live environment and this will lead to the pilot programme where real investors can actually have a feel and trade using the system," Sarayi said.

Escrow provided the technical solution to the Government of Kenya working with Central Depository and Settlement Corporation, the central bank, the Nairobi Securities Exchange and mobile network operators to launch a mobile-traded retail bond, dubbed M-Akiba.

The technology company is also behind Untu Capital's mobile-based bond which was a first for Zimbabwe.

The first tranche of the bond is now listed on FINSEC.
- fingaz

Tags: ZSE,