The Namibia Financial Institutions Supervisory Authority (NAMFISA) is banking on technology to stimulate public participation on the Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX).
This comes amid concerns that the NSX continues to be marred by low trading volumes despite being the third largest exchange on the African continent.
NAMFISA Deputy CEO: Prudential Supervision, Erna Motinga said the organisation is hoping that its FinTech Square initiative could provide solutions on how public participation can be increased on the local bourse.
“We intend to do this by incorporating some of the concerns raised in finalising their proposed Regulatory Sandbox,” she said on Friday.
“Markets have different maturity stages and the conversation of the shallow nature of the market has been ongoing far along and what needs to be looked at particularly is that this is caused by different facets of the economy and not just the introduction of new traders.”
Over the past few months, the regulator has been engaging innovators who are the leading players in technological and digital transformation, in the first-ever FinTech Square, a platform that aims to explore the concepts and evolution of FinTech in the Namibian Nonbanking Financial (NBF) sector.
“NAMFISA would have access to the same platform to understand underlying implications of the innovation on the financial services sector in general and consumer protection. This is an opportunity for all innovators that believe they have solutions to something that will assist the market and deepen capital markets,” she said.
Mutinga said this is an “incubatory” platform where financial innovators would “test” their innovations in a controlled regulatory environment.
The FinTech Square is expected to become an innovation hub where many initiatives will be housed and developed for years to come.
