With markets maturing in Europe and Asia, financial services firms on the lookout for the next destination to park their FX bandwagon now open doors to Africa. South Africa, with economic growth above 3% despite the global recession, home to an affluent trading population, full regulatory environment and holding the key to the continent at large, is fast becoming a destination of choice.
The first major FX and investment exhibition (http://saforexexpo.com/) will be taking place on the 7th and 8th of December 2012 at the prestigious Cape Town International Convention Centre. Over 5,000 traders, investors, introducing brokers, fund managers, affiliates and industry professionals from across Southern Africa will attend the event to explore new opportunities in the world’s most liquid asset class. “The event is a milestone for South Africa as it shows the market is strong and withstanding the recession, we are pleased to explore this market and showcase our products” said Mohsin Jameel, CEO of Tradenext (an exhibitor).
The exhibition is organised by Event Studio, a Cape Town based events management agency. The expo director, Jeni Kostova believes “South Africa is a thriving market and we recognize that local investors lack a proper platform to engage with the leading FX and CFD international providers”. The two-day event will be full of seminars, tutorials and discussions by key industry experts where investors can get the know-how about what’s moving the markets. The latest technological developments driving FX trading will be presented in live market conditions through the high-tech Forex Lounge on the exhibition floor.
“We have managed to attract some of the largest global FX players who believe South Africa is the new source of volume growth out there”, Jeni continues.
South Africa’s economy has been growing despite the global recession still taking charge. South Africa’s financial markets are sophisticated and mature. The country is home to JSE Limited - the largest stock exchange in Africa – with market capitalization of US$579.1 billion offering trading in equities, indices, derivatives, bonds and currency futures.
The JSE Africa All Share Index is trading at 37,193.20.
Just a few days ago, on16th October 2012, the JSE registered an all-time closing record‚ extending gains on the all-share index to 18.80% from a year ago‚ amid a broad-based rally.
In a 2010 survey, the largest economy in Africa was found to have the second most sophisticated financial market and the second-lowest effective business tax rate out of 14 surveyed countries. The country was also ranked fourth for ease of accessing capital, fourth for cost of capital, sixth for its transport infrastructure and seventh for foreign direct investment as a percentage of GDP: in 2008 it was over 3% of the GDP.
South African retail investor’s participation in the local stock market is believed to be around 6% of the population. With a growing affluent and upper middle class, investors are looking for stable, income bearing alternative investment opportunities.
The South African Rand is recognized as an exotic currency pair. It is one of the most volatile currencies in the world and can exhibit moves of greater than 0.20c in a single day of trading against the USD. This volatility allows investors to speculate by being in the market for a relatively short period of time and offers excellent liquidity supported by market makers.
The Rand is trading at 8.6781 against the greenback.
There has been an influx of foreign brokers setting up shop in the Southern African country including: IG Markets, Saxo Bank, ETX Capital, Delta Stock and Markets.com, showing the potential in the market. Furthermore the market has local banks and brokerages offering online FX and CFD trading, such as Global Trader, Nedbank and ACM Gold. Notably, Standard Bank is a white label partner of Gain Capital.
Exhibitors at the event include FXCM, Saxo Bank, IG Markets, Trader 24, Spot Option, Broker Signals and many more leading brokers, education and service providers.
Brendan Callan, President of European Operations at FXCM says “FXCM is excited to be a part of the South Africa Forex Expo as we are always looking for new ways to venture into new regions where we may not be known and form new partnerships with local businesses.”
December is thought to be a quiet month as traders wrap up for the festive season, however Cape Town is a prime destination for South African and foreigners as it boasts a Mediterranean climate during the traditional (European) winter months.