Strate, with input from market stakeholders, has produced a corporate action handbook for the South African capital markets. The handbook provides guidance to issuers, sponsors and legal firms that plan to announce a corporate action in the South African market. It includes salient information, timelines and processing requirements.

The corporate actions handbook is now available to the wider market for review and comment.

To access the handbook click here.

To provide feedback, click here.

During the financial crisis and collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008, it became evident that regulators and private sector managers were unable to readily identify the full extent of the market participants’ exposure to Lehman and the interconnectedness of financial institutions.

This gave rise to the Regulatory Oversight Committee (ROC), which was founded by the G20’s Financial Stability Board, establishing what is called the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) system.

The system is governed by global regulators who recognise the importance of the LEI as a key component of the financial markets which aims to reduce systemic risk and increase transparency.

An LEI is a unique numbering system (code) which allows for the identification of legally independent entities across the global financial markets.

Unique identification of parties to financial transactions underpins multiple financial stability objectives such as:

• Improved risk management in firms
• Better assessment of micro and macro prudential risks
• Facilitation of orderly resolution

It also provides many benefits to the private sector such as:

• Lowering operational risks
• Facilitating straight through processing

Global regulatory reporting is likely to become stricter and companies are encouraged and will benefit by obtaining an LEI code. Any legal entity that enters into a financial transaction is eligible to register for an LEI. However, single individuals (natural persons) are not eligible.

Companies are now able to make use of Strate as a local provider of LEI services. 

In order to be endorsed as an issuer of LEIs, Strate was required to meet a set of stringent qualifying criteria set by the Regulatory Oversight Committee. Strate’s LEI services include the ability to register, view, search, update, renew, challenge and port LEI codes for companies.

 For detailed information visit: www.lei-strate.co.za or contact Strate-LEIHelpdesk@strate.co.za

Strate has collaborated with technology company Iress to integrate our systems using an OpenAPI (application programming interface) and ISO20022 message standards to ensure future compatibility, reduce costs and improve overall efficiency.

This cost-effective integration with Iress increases opportunities for our clients to digitally connect to Strate and reduce business costs.

Belinda Kasch, Product Manager for securities lending & borrowing at Iress South Africa, says, “We were looking to reduce the technical overhead costs of proprietary message interface management gateways currently connecting Iress and Strate.”

Iress provides software to over 100 000 businesses across the financial services industry in Asia-Pacific, North America, Africa, UK and Europe.

“Strate’s strategy is to provide a range of digital connections or channels to suit clients’ requirements,” says Rudi Steenkamp, Head of Technology and Data Management at Strate. “API integration with Iress enables an additional option for the market to integrate systems with Strate.”

As South Africa’s principal central securities depository, Strate digitally connects the financial market ecosystem with world-class technology platforms. In 2021, Strate securely transmitted 91 million messages and processed 7.5 million settlements with a value of R46 trillion, servicing over a thousand clients across various market segments.

“At Strate we work closely with our clients to introduce digital solutions to meet the evolving needs of the ecosystem. This is in keeping with our purpose of serving the financial markets,” says Greg Naicker, Head of CSD Services at Strate.

For more information contact Strate CSD Services (CSD-Services@strate.co.za) or Belinda Kasch at Iress (belinda.kasch@iress.com).

Strate’s e‐Voting platform has achieved another significant milestone: the operationalisation of three new clients. Cadiz Asset Management, Visio Fund Management and Matrix Fund Managers, with combined assets under management of over R57 billion, are now live to process voting instructions via our fully digital solution.

We would like to thank Nedbank, Rand Merchant Bank and Standard Bank for the vital and ongoing collaborative role they have played in driving the successful operationalisation of their clients.

We are pleased to continue serving the financial market ecosystem through our innovative, groundbreaking e-Voting platform, which offers a fully digital secure platform to connect companies to their investors.

“The benefits of moving to Strate e-Voting have been amazing, as the end‐to‐end solution has removed all the complexity around manual intervention,” says Althea Modiselle, Head of Fund Administration at Visio Fund Management. “The onboarding process, staff training (requested on more than one occasion), and numerous calls for assistance were no problem to Strate who ensured that implementation was done with no hiccups.”

Through full integration with our core CSD platform, our e-Voting platform uses our existing digital legal ownership records to enable seamless and legally-binding voting on securities in the public and private markets.

e-Voting seamlessly connects issuers and investors, increasing transparency and efficiencies across the value chain.

Other benefits include:

•          Real-time voting from any location

•          Ability for voters to change their vote at any time before meeting close

•          Ability for voters to direct questions to the meeting chairperson

•          No manual intervention at any stage in the value chain

•          Improved corporate governance through interactive, audited reports

•          Data security using blockchain technology

•          A true end-to-end solution

To find out more about Strate’s e-Voting platform, please contact our e-Voting team on e-Votingteam@strate.co.za.

As South Africa’s trusted and principal central securities depository and central collateral platform, we are pleased to announce we have reached a significant milestone in expanding our offering to the OTC derivatives market.

We have gone live with our solution to provide a digital post-trade confirmation matching process for over-the-counter (OTC)  derivatives – the first new security type to be added to our platforms in over a decade.

We are now ready to offer registry, settlement, asset servicing and data services to the OTC derivatives industry, through our existing platforms, to efficiently and cost-effectively connect local buy-side and sell-side market players.

The current OTC derivatives market processes are inefficient, fragmented and largely manual, which leads to delays and errors. The local industry is faced with the challenge of new margining regulations that come into effect in February 2023, further driving the need for digital solutions. Digitisation in the OTC derivative markets will enable the connection of all key players – sell-side, buy-side, administrators and regulators – digitally, robustly and with the right level of security.

The benefits of introducing OTC derivatives into our digital financial market infrastructure include:

• Standardisation
• Interoperability
• Efficiency
• Risk mitigation
• Lower cost of trading

Our cost-effective solution for OTC derivatives is supported by FpML global standards (high-quality data at source) to enable the value chain to operate effectively and efficiently. This includes providing valid, accurate and complete information which can be used to support market transparency.

Please do not hesitate to contact Strate to discuss how we can partner with you to support your business. 

We are delighted to announce that Strate’s e‐Voting platform has reached another significant milestone: the operationalisation of Legacy Africa Fund Managers to process its voting instructions. This aligns to our purpose of serving the South African financial markets through collaborating with the market to enable efficiencies in shareholder voting.

We would like to thank Nedbank, Rand Merchant Bank and Standard Bank for the vital and ongoing collaborative role they have played in driving the successful operationalisation of their client.

We look forward to enabling Legacy onto our platform.

Godwin Sepeng, Managing Director, Legacy Africa Fund Managers, says: “Legacy Africa Fund Managers would like to thank Strate and our CSD partners for facilitating our seamless migration onto the e-Voting platform. We are delighted at the prospect of a new relationship with Strate, while we remain grateful to our CSD partners for the voting service they previously provided.

“Among the many advantages of migrating to a streamlined, end-to-end online platform is that it will enable us to improve our corporate governance responsibilities to clients (as mandated by our proxy voting guidelines and ESG policy), as well as equip us to report, maintain records and have oversight of our proxies in a more granular fashion.”

Strate e-Voting is a revolutionary, secure, web-based application used to manage shareholder meetings for South African and foreign-listed issuers. The platform provides a fully digitised experience that seamlessly connects issuers and investors, increasing transparency and efficiencies across the value chain.

Other benefits include:

• Real-time voting from any location
• Ability for voters to change their vote at any time before meeting close
• Ability for voters to direct questions to the meeting chairperson
• No manual intervention at any stage in the value chain
• Improved corporate governance through interactive, audited reports
• Data security using blockchain technology
• A true end-to-end solution

To find out more about Strate’s e-Voting platform, please email e-Votingteam@strate.co.za.

At Strate, we support the country’s transformation agenda by doing good in our communities. Through our “Do Good” initiative, we help communities in need by participating in fundraising activities for non-profit organisations (NPOs) that Strate supports.

In our latest “Do Good” initiative, Strate Chairman Nigel Payne and his brother Adrian Payne will take part in the Freedom Challenge, a race across Africa, under the theme “Ride For A Cause”. Nigel and Adrian aim to raise funds for the Reach for a Dream Foundation, a South African NPO, which over the last three decades has brought hope and happiness to tens of thousands of children fighting life-threatening illnesses.

To support the brothers’ fundraising efforts, click here. Find out more about the Freedom Challenge here. Donations for this cause will qualify for a Section 18A certificate. Strate will match a certain amount of the total donations received, which will go to the Reach for a Dream Foundation.  

The winter Freedom Challenge starts from 14 – 22 June 2022 with 2 150km of adventure riding and 33 000m of climbing. The cut-off for RASA is 26 days. The Payne brothers start their journey on Thursday, 16 June 2022.

Nigel and Adrian are the only two brothers that have taken part in the Freedom Challenge more than two times, and they will also compete in the summer RASA in October. Including the summer RASA, Nigel would have completed an impressive six of the total seven challenges that have been held to date.

We are delighted that André Nortjé, Strate CEO, is taking part in the upcoming World Forum of CSDs (WFC) Conference. The WFC is an important forum for regional central securities depository (CSD) associations to exchange information, discuss issues of common interest and increase their engagement on cross-regional and global developments.

Key conference themes include:

• CSD engagement in Sustainable Development
• Facilitating cross-border investment flows
• Technology Vision for FMIs
• Business optimisation and the ways to scale up a CSD
• Settlement cycle

André is looking forward to participating in a highly topical panel discussion on “Expectations of stakeholders and cooperation with other market infrastructures” on 1 June 2022, at 11h30-12h15.

The panel discussion will focus on:

• The evolution of the CSD ecosystem
• The needs of CSD stakeholders
• How CSDs can align with these

To find out more about the WFC Conference, which runs from 30 May to 1 June, click here

Strate has been awarded Level 1 Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) status following its latest evaluation by the South African National Accreditation System (SANAS). This is the second year in a row that Strate has achieved this level, which is a pleasing reflection of our commitment to the transformation of our people.

Based on the central role Strate plays in serving the South African financial market, it is important that we act as a good corporate citizen and proactively participate in the country’s socio-economic development. As part of this commitment, we work towards meeting employment equity and skills development targets within the framework of South Africa’s B-BBEE transformation objectives and the Financial Sector Charter Codes.

Strate aims to achieve a consistent Level 3 B-BBEE status. To view the certificate, click here.

South African entities that operate in international markets require a legal entity identifier (LEI), a unique reference code used across markets and jurisdictions to identify legally distinct entities engaged in financial transactions. Strate is authorised as South Africa’s Local Operating Unit, mandated by the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF), to issue and record all LEIs for the South African market.

The GLEIF will be making three changes to the LEI Regulatory Oversight Committee (LEI ROC) policies, namely: fund relationships, legal entity events and government entities.