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Business Reporter

The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) Central Securities Depository (CSD) processed 96 507 731 trades valued $8,46 billion in the third quarter to September 30, 2022.

The ZSE Depository started operating in October 2021 after securing approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission of Zimbabwe (SECZ).

A CSD is an electronic register of securities such as shares, bonds, derivatives, and Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs).

The ZSE, in its third-quarter CSD update, said a total of 132 deposits were processed while the total number of shares that were dematerialised in the third quarter of 2022 was 44 464 741.

During the quarter under review, 839 new accounts were opened bringing the cumulative number of accounts opened on the ZSE CSD to 19 613 since the depository was launched in 2021.

The ZSE said the total number of trades executed in the third quarter of 2022 was 6 597.

The ZSE Depository became the second CSD to be licensed in Zimbabwe. According to the ZSE chief executive, Justine Bgoni, the move to launch the ZSE Depository was driven by the need to improve operational efficiencies in the market, reduce market costs to all participants, make it easier for retail investors to access the market, and facilitate the introduction of new products.

“This is also in line with international best practice where an Exchange owns its depository,” he added.

A CSD is a systemically important institution in the securities market that by providing a specific range of services to securities issuers makes it possible to issue securities while enabling market participants to fulfil the obligation of transferring securities and making payments for them as the final phase of the transfer of securities from the seller to the buyer.

A CSD may offer its clients a diverse range of services, which varies in individual countries according to the level of development and the size of the local securities market, as well as its cross-border connections.

Some of its key services include the initial recording of securities in a book-entry system, providing and maintaining securities accounts at the top tier level (central maintenance service), and operating a securities settlement system (settlement service).