Capital Markets

This section includes information about the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), which occupies a prominent position in South Africa’s economic landscape. Today the JSE is recognised as one of the world’s leading exchanges connecting buyers and sellers in five different financial markets, namely, equities, equity derivatives, commodity derivatives, currency derivatives and interest rate products. It is ranked the 20th largest stock exchange in the world and has 403 listings and a market capitalisation of R7.27trn ($889.3bn) as of December 2011. Like exchanges around the world, the JSE has faced a challenging environment in the wake of the global credit crisis and is now working to make the market more attractive by incentivising larger currency deals and enhancing trading flexibility for investors. This chapter contains interviews with Nicky Newton-King, CEO, Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE); and Stephen van Coller, Chief Executive for Corporate, Investment Banking and Wealth Management, Absa & Barclays in Africa.