The UK’s Department for International Trade hosted the virtual UK-Africa Fintech Summit which brought together key industry players in Fintech from across the UK and Africa. The event aimed at showcasing the UK Fintech offer while exploring the opportunities in Africa with a view to improve collaboration and mutually beneficial trade and investment between the UK and Africa. The event was held from 3-4 February 2021.
The information-packed two days provided a unique opportunity for companies within the fintech space to network and explore developments taking place within the sector, including what the UK Fintech has to offer to Africa, fintech on the African continent and the future of fintech in respective markets. The two-day session explored the economic challenges occasioned by the COVID 19 pandemic and the role fintech is playing in supporting the recovery efforts.
The summit explored the African fintech offer and progress made by players on the continent and the Escrow Group, the outfit behind the C-TRADE was invited to showcase the innovation. Introduced in 2018, the C -TRADE platform has taken the market by storm and democratised the capital market space while creating a balance for retail investors with relatively small investments which aggregate to a significant amount.
Previously the market was skewed towards institutional investors who held an enormous number of shares. That led to liquidity challenges across the market, where only a handful of investors held meaningful stock. The perception of retail investors was that they are a waste of time because they contribute insignificant values, and their trading activities are insufficient to warrant anyone bothering with them. The price discovery mechanism of equities was warped due to the concentrated ownership of stocks. Spreading the shareholding, even if it was amongst retail investors, was the best way of enhancing price discovery and market liquidity. Since its inception, C-TRADE now accounts for over 40% of stock market trades currently and the number is expected to increase as investors become more comfortable and gain confidence in mobile and online trading of securities.
C-TRADE is an innovation developed to harness and promote participation of retail investors and institutions in capital markets through mobile and internet-based platforms. It automates the interface of the retail and institutional investors giving them direct access to the market with enhanced efficiency and convenience.
C-TRADE is focused on creating convenience and increasing participation and activity on the stock market. It gives an opportunity to the Zimbabwean citizenry to save, invest and earn through investments on the stock markets. Since its launch C-TRADE has been working towards ensuring seamless interaction for investors through further enhancements to the product that was launched and has made quite a number of enhancements that enable access and convenience.
The Escrow Group continues to push the technology boundaries and is committed to ensure that the both the demand side and supply side of capital are catered for in order to increase capital market growth and to spur economic growth.
