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Business Reporter

Asset Management firm, Bard Santner Markets Executive Director, Dr Alfred Mthimkulu, says capital markets represent the future of society, as investors entrust the professionals with the responsibility to wisely allocate society’s savings in the right areas.

He made the remarks while presenting the awards ceremony speech at the Capital Market Awards Ceremony, organised by Business Weekly and Financial Markets Indaba and held at the Golden Cornifer, Avondale, in Harare on Friday, November 11, 2022.

Dr Mthimkulu said as few as capital markets professionals were, at least 3 million Zimbabweans had entrusted them with their hard earned life savings for allocation to securities or assets that guarantee the best returns.

“They are betting on us and saying: these guys will invest our savings in the best assets because they are competent, because they are the professionals; their bet is that the assets we pick will always be managed well and yield good returns. This bet on us by society is our mandate.

“We can call ourselves investment analysts, asset managers, stockbrokers, pension fund trustees, underwriters and so on.

“That’s okay. But what we truly are is stewards of society’s futures and as such we have an unmistakable reporting line to society.

“Our regulators, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Zimbabwe (SecZim), the Insurance and Pensions Commission of Zimbabwe (IPEC) and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) are ever present to remind us of that mandate from society,” he said.

Asking rhetorical questions, Dr Mthimkulu said, “What must capital markets do for society?”

“What do we do as stewards? Are we in it to punt the market? To hedge against inflation? Do we seek to outperform some index?

“To at least match some exchange rate? Almost all are commendable goals but rather minor. We are running a relay marathon to an unknown world,” Dr Mthimkulu said.

He said when talking of asset allocation, capital markets professionals would be trying to migrate to that unknown world, hopeful that pricing efficiencies in the markets, as operators outbid or underbid each other ensure, ensure that the chosen investment securities are the best assets that society’s savings are allocated to.

“In a world where we are consistently told not to take ourselves seriously, we must take ourselves seriously,” Dr Mthimkulu said.

The capital markets, he said, were at the centre of the economy, as such they were the pulse through “which we can feel and observe the health of the economy and the well-being of society, present and future”.

Dr Mthimkulu said as capital markets players they where by design a far-sighted lot in the business of investing and managing funds for the long-term.

It was therefore important, Dr Mthimkulu said, that on the rare occasions “when we punctuate our routines to celebrate achievements in capital markets”, the players reflect on their collective performance in executing the mandate from society.

He said given the activity seen in the capital market this year, it was refreshing, “at least to capital markets romantics like this one before you, that indeed we are taking ourselves seriously”.