BUSINESS REPORTER
The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) has launched a new platform to drive the participation of retail investors amid lack of appreciation of investment processes on the bourse.
The launch of ZSE Direct comes amid low participation by individuals on ZSE and the perception that investment is for the sophisticated, ZSE chief executive Justin Bgoni said yesterday.
The platform will provide retail investors with a smart way to manage their ZSE investments and view their CSD holdings remotely and complements other existing platforms in the market with the aim to provide more choice for investors.
It was born out of a survey commissioned early this year which indicated that participation by individual Zimbabweans on the local capital market was still marginal.
“ZSE Direct is meant to make accessing the market very simple for first time investors but yet allow them to experience the full investment process of having their own stockbroking account and their own CSD account,” Bgoni said, adding that it is meant for locals with an ID and bank accounts.
The minimum investment is ZWL$500.
The platform has features such as buying, selling and checking an investor’s balance.
It also shows an investor’s portfolio indicating the securities in the CSD account as well as the valuation of that portfolio.
It will show latest market statistics that include the market watch, top movers and the Indices to help an investor track the performance of the market.
It shows up to 10 best orders on both the buy and sell side.
This will enable the investor to assess the status of other orders in the market and hence be able to make an informed decision on their buy or sell order, ZSE said.
Given that the market operates on circuit breakers, the platform will indicate to the investor the acceptable price range for each security, ZSE said.
There has been concern that daily trades on ZSE have been low averaging less than 300, an indication that the majority of the population had been left out.
This has put the spotlight on ZSE and the capital markets regulator, the Securities Exchange Commission of Zimbabwe to accelerate investor education programmes.
