Dematerialised securities hit ZWL$9,6 trillion

THE number of securities that were dematerialised on the Chengetedzai Securities Depository hit ZWL$9,6 trillion at the end of December 2023, with corporates and pension funds holding the most significant value on the platform.

This accounted for 57,06% of the total market capitalisation for dematerialised shares on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE).

Dematerialisation is the process of converting physical share certificates to electronic form.

In its trading update for the month ended December 31, 2023, Chengetedzai Depository Company Limited said average dematerialisation penetration ratio (demat ratio) across all counters was at 62,95%.

Over the years, the ratio has been hovering around 50% as people held on to their physical shares in the absence of laws that compel them to convert them.

“Dematerialised securities registered on the Chengetedzai depository company limited central securities depository (CSD) accounted for 57,06% of the total market capitalisation for dematerialised shares on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, and their total value was ZWL$9,593 trillion (US$1,65 billion) as of 31 December 2023,” Chengetedzai said in an update.

“Corporates and pension funds hold the most significant value on the Chengetedzai CSD accounting for 30,77% and 26,60% respectively. The cumulative number of trades processed on Chengetedzai CSD in 2023 closed at 49 924.”

The ZSE equities market capitalisation closed the year 2023 at ZWL$15,255 trillion. The total value of trades that settled through the Chengetedzai CSD system in the month of December was ZWL$53,385 billion.

In the month of December 2023, a total of 100 new accounts were opened bringing the total accounts opened last year to 2 541.

As of December 31, 2023, the cumulative number of accounts opened on the CSD since inception stood at 46 507.

Local investors continued to dominate the number of accounts opened, accounting for 95,13% of accounts opened.

Individuals continued to dominate the number of accounts opened accounting for 52,37% of the total accounts on the CSD.

OK Zimbabwe Limited led the demat ratio pack at 100% followed by Proplastics Limited, Zimre Holding Limited and Meikles Limited at 99%. Delta Corporation Limited had the lowest demat ratio at 59%.