The local equities market appears set to provide its highest return in half a decade with the Exchange’s Composite Index (GSE-CI) returning a favorable 40% year-to-date (YtD).
This comes after significant lows in 2014 and 2015, with -11.77 and -15.33% respectively, caused, in no small part by the crushing power crisis of the period. Also, the toll of the financial sector clean-up saw 2018 close at -0.29%, 2019 saw -12.25% and 2020 was worse off at 13.98%.
The rebound has been sustained by investor confidence which has been boosted particularly by the performance and fundamentals of stocks such as MTN, CAL, TOTAL, GCB and ETI.
Tradelive
In a move guaranteed to consolidate recent gains on the market as well as deepen trading activities, an emerging markets-focused investment firm, IC securities, has partnered with MTN to roll out an industry-first digital trading platform.
Designated ‘Tradelive’, the platform which has the full blessing of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), allows for automated transaction execution via a web portal as well as MTN’s Mobile Money Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) code.
In his remarks at the launch of the platform, the Managing Director of the GSE, Ekow Afedzie said: “The Tradelive platform is an innovative tool by IC Securities, developed to assist investors trade easily on the GSE platform to bring more convenience and real-time speed for trading.”
He added: “The platform is expected to enhance the daily trading of IC Securities customers, as they will be able to trade securities directly from any mobile device, which aligns with GSE’s strategy of collaborating with FinTech’s and Licensed Brokers to develop platforms for investors to trade electronically. As we commend IC Securities for this timely initiative, we would like to encourage other brokerage firms and players in the industry to emulate same and develop more innovative tools to support the development of the capital market.”
On his part, Chief Executive at IC Securities, Kwabena Osei-Boateng explained that the platform, which has been years in the making, aims to “bring the capital markets to the fingertips of investors.”
Speaking further, he said: “We are truly grateful to MTN and the GSE for their unwavering support as we developed and sought authorization for this innovative product. We are excited to play an important part in putting investing on the Ghana Stock Exchange within the convenient and safe reach of millions of Ghanaians.”
Chief Finance Officer at MTN, Kobina Sam Bentsi-Enchill, explained that the move forms another layer of the partnership between IC Securities and MTN, following the latter’s appointment of the former as the main sponsor for its Initial Public Offer (IPO) in 2018, which represented another first; where some 84.6% of domestic applicants bought their shares through MTN’s mobile money platform.
“Following this outstanding success story, we have been exploring other means of increasing financial inclusiveness even further and one of such endeavors informed our collaboration with IC securities in this regard… we are looking to see the number of ways mobile money can be applied,” he said.
With a rise of tech-savvy investors, the Tradelive platform aims at attracting an entire generation of active investors to build the right savings and investment culture, that is much needed in the capital market industry to support its growth. There are plans to extend the equities-focused service to other mobile money providers, with further developments for the debt market in the works.
