THE Securities Commission of Zimbabwe (SECZ) has lifted a suspension imposed on local brokerage firm Mast Stockbrokers last November after the company flouted operational regulations, NewsDay has learnt.
Report by Bernard Mpofu
SECZ suspended Mast Stockbrokers from trading after the stockbroker failed to comply with a directive to register shares from nominee accounts into individual accounts.
Mast’s majority shareholder is Peter Marriott. According to a notice seen by this paper, dated March 28 2013, Mast will now resume trading on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange after SECZ licenced the brokerage firm.
“Please be advised that the commission has lifted Mast Stockbrokers’ suspension from trading and consequently the firm has been licensed for the period up to 31 December 2013,” reads the notice in part.
“The Commission has completed a review of progress made by the firm with respect to the above matter and is satisfied with the level of compliance, as well as the progress made by the firm to address inherent system weaknesses.”
Last August, the capital markets regulator told brokerage firms to register and deliver shares under safe custody, a directive, necessitated by the need to get rid of gross irregularities showing through inconsistent records, low levels of capitalisation, insufficient insurance cover and high incidence of scrip frauds and abuse of clients’ securities.
The directive required the firm to register all shares in Mast Nominees into names of their respective beneficial owners by October 31, 2012 and deliver them accordingly.
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Experts say with stockbrokers charging 1% commission on each side of every trade, the future of independent stockbroking firms could be bleak given the subdued performance of ZSE over the last three years and delays in setting up an automated trading system.
Before dollarisation, the securities dealers were charging 2,5% commission on either side of the trade.
Market players estimate that nearly 80% of the trade on the ZSE is handled by at least five brokers, which means these could have taken the biggest chunk of the commission.
The five firms — Lynton Edwards, Imara Capital, MMC Capital, EFE Securities and Old Mutual — had since dollarisation of the economy, been the more dominant players on the exchange.
