JSE Connect: JSE CEO highlights innovation and market resilience

Source: JSE. Leila Fourie, JSE chief executive officer.

The conference provided a platform for constructive dialogue among industry stakeholders, with a focus on unlocking lasting solutions to market challenges.

Fourie encouraged transparency, candor, and collaboration to invigorate investor confidence and position South Africa as an attractive investment destination.

In her opening remarks, Fourie underscored the importance of innovation, market resilience, and collaborative dialogue in navigating the evolving landscape of capital markets.

“It's probably worth mentioning that these strides have been made in the face of SA’s declining and unfortunate declining significance in global emerging market portfolios. All of you would have experienced this particularly in the first couple of months of this year,” Fourie said.

“Nevertheless, we are very resolute in our commitment to showcasing South Africa as capital markets and as a destination of choice. We also continue to work to target new clients and particularly to attract new flows into our region.”

Despite challenges like South Africa's diminishing global significance and volatile market conditions, Fourie emphasised the JSE's dedication to maintaining market integrity and resilience.

She discussed recent initiatives aimed at alleviating margin pressures and ensuring sound settlement systems, reflecting the exchange's proactive approach to risk management. She highlighted the JSE's commitment to innovation, citing the following initiatives as transformational:

• Colo 2.0 is an advanced managed infrastructure as a service (IaaS) solution launched by the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), in collaboration with Beeks Group and IPC Systems. This innovative offering provides JSE clients with cloud-based colocation services, offering on-demand private cloud computing and low-latency analytics.

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  Colo 2.0 reduces time to market and total cost of ownership, offering features like PTP time stamping, flexibility, scalability, and a built-in analytics server.

  This international collaboration aims to drive capital markets innovation in Africa, allowing the JSE to offer branded cloud services and control infrastructure easily at scale, ultimately turning a cost center into a profit centre.

• Big xyt ecosystems is a collaborative venture between big xyt and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), aimed at providing innovative data analytics solutions to trading venues worldwide. The centrepiece of this venture is the Trade Explorer platform, which offers sophisticated analytics tools for understanding market liquidity, flows, and execution performance.

  These solutions are delivered directly to end users through web-hosted services, enabling rapid time to market and low ownership costs.

  Additionally, the company will offer DataShop and private cloud functionality to help trading venues promote their unique data sets. This partnership aims to empower trading venues to realise additional revenue streams and provide greater accessibility to data analytics for market participants of all sizes.

• Fourie also highlighted the JSE’s recent launch of the BDO Transformation Project at BDO South Africa, which aims to enhance the construction industry's workforce and adapt to evolving market demands.

  Established through collaboration with global partners, BDO South Africa operates within a network of over 800 offices worldwide, offering auditing, advisory, tax, and business services outsourcing.

  The project addresses challenges such as talent shortages and market volatility, focusing on maintaining quality standards while embracing digitalisation and innovation.

  Initiatives like the BDO Global 2023 Construction Survey Report aim to attract and retain talent, positioning the construction sector as an employer of choice for the next generation. Through global research projects and workforce planning strategies, BDO South Africa seeks to drive transformation and remain a leader in industry expertise and quality service delivery.

Promoting investment

Fourie reiterated the JSE's role in attracting investment and promoting regulatory reforms to stimulate market activity.

She highlighted ongoing efforts to broaden product offerings and diversify market models in line with global trends, positioning the JSE as a centre of innovation for local and continental capital markets.