Africa’s Biggest Stock Market Named Best Regulated in WEF Report
Sept. 4 (Bloomberg) — The Johannesburg Stock Exchange, operator of the continent’s largest equities and bond markets, ranked first among 144 nations for the effectiveness of regulation and supervision, the World Economic Forum said.
It’s the fifth consecutive year the JSE was listed first in the Global Competitiveness Report, the exchange said in an e- mailed statement today. South Africa ranked third in the ability to raise finance through the local equity market and the effectiveness of corporate boards. It was second in protecting the rights of minority shareholders and 53rd on its Global Competitiveness Index.
The collapse of African Bank Investments Ltd., South Africa’s largest provider of unsecured loans, last month froze the nation’s corporate bond market. The local units of Toyota Motor Corp. and Bayerische Motoren Werke AG postponed debt sales after the nation’s first bank failure in 12 years that followed a 95 percent plunge in African Bank’s share price over a period of three days.
The FTSE/JSE Africa All Share Index gained 12 percent this year to beat a 10 percent advance in the MSCI Emerging Markets gauge. The WEF, which hold an annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, uses criteria including quality of infrastructure and institutions, efficiency and market sophistication for its judgments.
To contact the reporter on this story: Neo Khanyile in Johannesburg at nkhanyile@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Vernon Wessels at vwessels@bloomberg.net Emily Bowers
