Johannesburg - It was business as usual for listed companies based in Cape Town as the JSE hub opened its doors in the city on Thursday.
The JSE director of capital markets Donna Nemer said the opening of the satellite hub in Cape Town would allow the JSE to enhance its service to clients in the city and build new relationships.
Nemer said that opening the Cape Town office would allow the JSE to provide a dedicated team on the ground whose focus would be to deal with customer-service problems more efficiently and to better understand client needs.
“The city boasts sophisticated infrastructure that includes shipping access and represents an important gateway for both the country, as well as the continent,” Nemer said.
“The JSE Exchange Hub Cape Town will further support the investor community, especially with such a large part of the fund management industry based in the city.”
However, Nemer’s enthusiasm was not shared by the companies based in the city. The companies were reluctant to comment as they welcomed the development with muted excitement.
Only the Stellenbosch-based Capitec Bank was willing to comment. Andre Du Plessis, the chief financial officer, said: “Although the launch of the exchange hub in Cape Town will have little influence on Capitec Bank, we wish the JSE well with the launch.”
Cape Town is home for listed companies such as British American Tobacco (BAT), Mediclinic, Naspers, Remgro, Shoprite Holdings, Sanlam and Woolworths and is the second-largest economic hub in the country.
“Cape Town is a major centre for global and local institutional investors, as well as listed companies. The establishment of our Cape Town office is part of our established strategy of enhancing our service and relationship with all of our stakeholders because Cape Town is the second largest economic hub in South Africa, and the head office base of many institutional clients and an increasing number of JSE member firms and brokers,” Nemer said.
This happens when the country is still waiting for the arrival of JSE competitor ZAR X to launch as it was announced in April.
Ian Cruickshanks, an independent analyst, said there had been talk about a stock exchange to give competition to the JSE, but nothing had happened so far.
BUSINESS REPORT