HARARE - The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) yesterday awarded a contract to supply and install the bourse’s automation system to Infotech Middle East FZ LLC (Infotech).
“On July 2013 we announced the appointment of Central Depository Settlement Company of Mauritius as our consultant to the automation project. The consultants have since successfully guided us through the tender and vendor selection process,” ZSE chief executive Alban Chirume said.
The automated trading system is expected to augment efforts to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country.
It is also expected to boost equities’ daily turnover to more than $5 million as global trends indicate that upon conversion to automated trade, turnover increases by a factor of five.
The local bourse’s daily turnover — which is the value of shares traded per day — currently averages $1, 5 million.
The automation of the bourse has been on the agenda since 2000 although plans have been stalled due to liquidity constraints
Chirume, a former Securities Commission of Zimbabwe boss, said Infotech Middle East FZ LLC will also review the ZSE’s business processes, prepare a request for proposals, advise the local bourse on the process of vendor selection and prepare the system for implementation.
“The immediate next steps are the study of the local environment, and the gap analysis to be carried out by the vendor in order for us to finalise the project plans,” he said.
“We are expecting that in three to four months’ time, the project will be in the training and acceptance testing stages with the final live date being out target within a period of six months from now.”