Goodbye 2015

It was a long, difficulty year for most Zimbabweans, this 2015. And it's now coming to an end.

Definitely, the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) had its worst year since dollarisation, probably its worst year ever. The market experienced numerous challenges not least the bearish sentiment which saw market capitalisation fall to just over $3 billion with the mainstream industrial index down from 162.79 on 31 December 2014 to 114.17 on 29 December 2015. Considering that the previous year the ZSE had lost 19.46%, its clear the equities market has not brought much joy to investors over the past 24 months.

However, amid the gloom, there were some notable strides at the ZSE. The main one being the successful implementation of the Automated Trading System (ATS) and the subsequent integration of the ATS to the Central Securities Depository (CSD). These are milestones that put the local market shoulder to shoulder with other progressive markets of the world. While, automation is not a panacea to the challenges affecting the local market, it is a necessity considering the opportunities it presents to the investing public and the market players alike. Now what is required is to capitalise these investments and deliver value to investors. Which brings me to my discussion for the day; what I want to see happen in the equities market in 2016.

1. Bring the ZSE to the people. There was a time when local retail investors were the key drivers of our market. That time has since passed but I am confident that by leveraging on the ATS capabilities and innovations in the mobile money transfer (MMT) space, a lot can be done to promote broader participation on the market. 

2. List Fixed-Income securities on the ZSE. I am sure background work on this has already been done and with the Minister of Finance expressing the desire to list government bonds on the ZSE, I am convinced that this is one low-hanging fruit which stakeholders must deliver in 2016. The benefits would be immense in terms of bringing transparency to the trading and pricing of such securities, providing an alternative investment class to investors and granting issuers another source of funding.

3. Alternative Trading Platforms. Lastly, I hope that following promulgation of Alternative Trading Platform (ATP) Rules, innovative ICT savvy entrepreneurs will take the opportunity to play in this space and enhance SMEs access to risk capital. 

Otherwise Goodbye 2015. As they say, it was a good flight if you landed...but there wont be much to miss about this year.