THE Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) will have new listing requirements by November as the bourse pushes for more disclosures in line with modern trading trends, chief executive officer Alban Chirume has said.
Tarisai Mandizha
Speaking at the first roundtable discussion with the audit committee of the Public Accountants and Auditor’s Board on Monday, Chirume said the ZSE was in the process of crafting the new set of rules and the first draft was currently being looked at.
The current listing requirements were drafted in 1998.
“We have started evaluating our listing requirements and we have put these to the whole world to look at the listing requirements first draft and to make changes to that document,”Chirume said.
Chirume said the new listing requirements should be in place by November 24 and would cover issues such as conditions of listing, pre-listing statements and methods and procedures of bringing securities to listing.
“Our listing requirements are our Bible for corporate governance, which should tell how we transact and how we do business,” Chirume said.
He added that the ZSE was currently working on four major projects: the revision of the listings rules, the automated trading system, demutualisation and the setting-up of a secondary exchange.
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“We truly believe the ZSE is a national asset so the responsibility of ZSE and what it does is for the nation,” Chirume said.
“We are trying to get small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to be listed and this will bring a whole new range of companies,” Chirume said.
Speaking at the same event, Securities Commission of Zimbabwe chief executive officer Tafadzwa Chinamo said quoted companies should release financial statements providing more disclosures in a bid to attract foreign investors.
“One of the things companies need to do is to attract investment. Restating of financial statements erodes the confidence in the market. We want to make sure that financial statements published make sense,” Chinamo said.
Speaking at the same event, World Bank country manager Nginya Mungai Lenneiye said restoration of investor confidence on the equities market was critical in stimulating economic growth.
“The attainment of sustained economic recovery will require that citizens and investors continue to have confidence in the transparency of both public and private processes underpinned by sound financial management and reporting,” Lenneiye said.