The Securities and Exchange Commission of Zimbabwe has published its 2024 annual report, setting out a year focused on tighter supervisory action, market rule changes and digitalisation of regulatory processes. The Commission cancelled 13 licences during the year, carried out prudential and anti-money laundering inspections, launched a regulatory sandbox and a licensing portal, and issued new directives covering audited financial statement disclosures, offshore investments, transaction monitoring and VFEX depository participation. The report also shows a difficult market backdrop, with subdued activity on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange for much of the year, although trading improved after the introduction of the Zimbabwe Gold currency and the reduction in capital gains withholding tax from 4% to 2% in June 2024. Supervisory activity included 10 prudential onsite inspections and seven AML/CFT inspections, while six licences and six collective investment schemes were approved. The market's overall AML/CFT risk score improved slightly to 0.40 from 0.4077 in 2023, although it remained rated medium. Capital adequacy improved across intermediaries, with four of 22 dealing firms undercapitalised at year-end versus 10 of 21 in 2023, and three of 29 asset managers undercapitalised versus 11 of 27 a year earlier. At the market level, combined annual equities turnover across the three exchanges fell 9.88% year on year in USD terms to USD176.69 million, while VFEX turnover rose 117% to USD56.94 million and VFEX market capitalisation increased 6% to USD1.28 billion. The report also notes mandatory ESG disclosures for securities market intermediaries under Directive 8/24, aligned to IFRS S1 and IFRS S2. Looking ahead, the Commission plans to launch a Capital Market Institute to administer examinations and support continuing professional development, and to work on amendments to the Securities and Exchange Act to accommodate new products and strengthen its investor protection powers. It also said it will prepare a new five-year strategy for 2026 to 2030.

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