Omega Ukama 
THE Securities and Exchange Commission of Zimbabwe (SecZim) says government should ensure an enabling investment environment through the enactment of legislation aligned to best practice to spur the country’s underdeveloped capital markets.
Tafadzwa Chinamo, the SecZim chief executive, said the local markets had a lot of room for improvement.
“At the regulatory level, the market still has limited and outdated supporting subsidiary legislation for the commission to effectively execute its mandate,” he said in the regulator’s 2018 annual report.
In 2013, SecZim had its application to become a member of the International Organization of Securities Commissions’ (IOSCO) Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MMOU) rejected after IOSCO found that SecZim lacked the legal authority to conform to the MMOU requirements.
Chinamo said SecZim has had to adjust and modify its laws in order to conform to IOSCO standards and came up with the Securities and Exchange Amendment bill In December 2018.
“The commission is still battling limited information disclosure and weak corporate governance standards by some listed companies.
“With globalisation, international capital tends to flow towards good governed investment destinations unsurprisingly SecZim had run-ins with some listed companies that had been at the centre of some public squabbles reported in media during the year,” Chinamo said.
“Adequate, equitable and timely disclosure of material information is critical for informed decision making, investor protection, market integrity and growth”.
He noted that a lot of companies are still running on outdated, unsustainable business models and obsolete equipment.
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