Bond Exchange took home the accolade of Most Innovative Capital Markets Regulator at the Africa Investor Index Series Awards, hosted in conjunction with the New York Stock Exchange.
Commenting from the awards ceremony in New York, Garth Greubel, BESA’s CEO said, “I am enormously honoured to accept this award on behalf of everyone at BESA. Being recognised amongst the best in the investment and exchange community in Africa is a great accolade. I believe that this award is testament to the fact that, as an Exchange, we are delivering on our philosophy of building better markets.”
BESA’s Market Regulation Division (MRD) is ultimately responsible for driving regulatory services and compliance within markets under its supervision, and in the past year, delivered on a number of key initiatives.
Jacob Shayi, Head: Market Regulation at BESA explains, “Maintaining the integrity of our markets forms the foundation of what we do and we are committed to fostering a culture of greater compliance amongst our users. Real time market surveillance introduced in the past year allows for the monitoring of trading anomalies and potential instances of market abuse. The ongoing revision of our rules in line with new business initiatives ensures that best practice regulatory standards are applied.”
However, BESA’s recent advances are not only restricted to the regulatory environment. The core business focus remains the domestic bond market which has in the past year reported new turnover records.
Greubel explains, “The 2007 calendar year ended with BESA reporting record bond market turnover of R13.8 trillion nominal. We currently have in excess of R800 billion in issue, and projections for 2008 see turnover reaching in excess of R17 trillion for the year. From a liquidity perspective this equates to projected market velocity of roughly 28 times our current market cap. Such statistics are encouraging, particularly if considered on the back of global market developments in recent days which will likely influence market volatility substantially during the remainder of 2008.”
His comments are well founded. Uncertainty prevailing in global and domestic financial markets has continued to boost activity in the domestic bond market which is among the most liquid in the world. In 2007 it was ranked fourth by fixed income value traded and during the first half of 2008, was recorded as one of the top ten exchanges worldwide.
Greubel and Shayi agree. Says Shayi, “Listings in our market are characteristically dominated by government bonds, providing the foundation for secondary market liquidity. However, growth in corporate issuance in recent years is a reflection of the increased maturity and sophistication of South Africa’s debt market, one which will ensure that BESA’s delivery of efficient and relevant regulation services continues.”
He concludes that, given the positive growth outlook for the economy and the degree of infrastructure development planned over the next few years, new listings on BESA are expected to show strong growth going forward.
Greubel concludes, “Kudos to all at BESA in winning this award. I am proud of what it represents for us as a business. We are currently navigating through one of the most exciting and challenging times in the history of BESA, which will require innovative thought and solid execution to make sure we get it right. Regulation is one of the cornerstones in taking our growth strategy forward. By being recognised as innovative in this arena, I am confident that we will continue to deliver on our mandate as a self-regulatory organisation going forward.”
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