BUSINESS REPORTER
Bard Santner Markets Inc has scored a first by becoming the first financial institution to register and set-up in the Victoria Falls Offshore Centre as the banking and finance advisory firm seeks tap into the growth potential of the market.
The setting up of the Bard Santner Offshore Corporate Services comes as the regional financial hub is targeting investors and has the dollar-denominated Victoria Falls Stock Exchange as its heartbeat.
Bard executive director Tatenda Hungwe said corporate services are the backbone of any financial centre as they provide the support structures that facilitate the functioning of the centre and enable the jurisdiction to flourish.
“Coming from the capital markets conference held in London last month, a key lesson from international financiers is the need to engage and explore to unlock capital and new opportunities,” Hungwe said.
Bard chairman, Vinod Bussawah, said the Victoria Falls financial hub initiative was a major step towards ensuring that Zimbabwe addresses some of its investment climate challenges to become more attractive to capital.
“Demand for capital across Africa is constrained by undeveloped local financial markets and sometimes unstable political and economic environments that make global investors uncomfortable lending their money. From my experience in Mauritius, the development of the Victoria Falls Offshore Centre goes a long way to address some of those operational environment challenges to safeguard investment and ensure good returns,” he said.
“The steps to becoming a fully-fledged international centre are progressive. It is about having a robust regulatory and legal environment, instilling a culture of compliance, ensuring political stability, investment in infrastructure, ease of doing business and access to expertise. All this is transformative because it attracts long-term capital.”
Authorities want to make Victoria Falls a regional financial hub like Mauritius.
As an internationally recognised financial jurisdiction of major repute, it is home to international banks, legal firms, corporate services, investment funds and private equity funds.
