This has been a very busy period for all of us at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. We had the privilege of hosting and supporting several industry conferences that served as a platform to shine the spotlight on SA and its capital markets. We are particularly proud to have hosted this year’s World Federation of Exchanges Clearing and Derivatives conference, known as WFEClear. This marked the first time the conference was held on African soil, but certainly not the last.

This was a highly successful international engagement, which brought executives and leaders of clearing houses from across the world to SA to meet, present research, network and share ideas. I think that being given the opportunity to stage this conference was both confirmation of the position the JSE holds internationally as well as its importance as a gateway to the rest of the continent.

The JSE was also involved in two other significant forums during the first quarter of the year – SA Trade Connect and TradeTech, Europe’s leading equity trading conference. SA Trade Connect is the premier equity market conference, gathering local and global C-suite leaders from the buy-side and sell-side in one venue, along with all the other players in the equity market ecosystem.

Like the WFE conference, having the opportunity to host, support and sponsor forums such as these is a vital part of our strategy at the JSE. It keeps us connected to the world, and gives us an opportunity to learn from the very best and to improve. It is also an opportunity for us to showcase SA as a sophisticated and globally competitive capital market.

It is all part and parcel of the JSE’s overarching strategy to ensure that we are – and remain – future fit, with connections on the continent and across the globe. These engagements enable us as the JSE to truly embody our role of being a convener of markets and to play a critical part in facilitating strategic dialogue between market participants, the ecosystem and our broader stakeholder base.

This quarter we also celebrated the first anniversary of JSE Private Placements (JPP), which was formed in 2022 in collaboration with UK fintech company Globacap Technology. JPP is a digital private-placements platform that connects private companies and issuers directly to investors, enabling private capital formation in a more transparent, efficient and accessible manner. By the end of January this year, JPP had published 25 deals and attracted more than 250 issuer subscribers as well as more than 350 investor subscribers to the platform.

We are also hard at work preparing to onboard the next group of SMEs in our JSE Enterprise Acceleration programme. I cannot stress how important this initiative is for us. The SME sector has an extremely important role to play in our country and this programme allows us to make a tangible contribution to driving financial inclusion, creating jobs, transforming the economy and fostering prosperity. The upcoming intake for the programme has been expanded to 45 entrepreneurs, with dedicated specialised cohorts for agriculture and mining.

Another highlight of this quarter was the return of legendary SA company Premier Group to the Main Board of the JSE, 18 years after its delisting, in 2005. It was another wonderful vote of confidence in this country and another affirmation of the vital role the JSE plays to grow companies.

We also celebrated the 10th anniversary of Sibanye-Stillwater’s debut on the Main Board, which provided an opportune moment to reflect on the role of mining and commodities in the bourse’s history – the exchange itself was founded on the back of mineral discoveries in the region. It was a seminal reminder of the role of mineral resources in our economy.

We are off to a flying start in 2023 and we look forward to what the rest of the year holds for capital markets. Our mission and vision remain unchanged – to build on our rich history to ensure we are future fit in every way. We will continue to improve our efficiencies, enhance the products we offer, seek out new technologies and forge new collaborations to make capital raising, share trading and investment better and more efficient.

Dr Leila Fourie
Group Chief Executive Officer