Digitally connecting the financial market

Gregory-Naiker2

Gregory Naicker

HEAD OF CSD SERVICES

CSD Services – a robust Financial Market Infrastructure, enabling clients through digital, innovative solutions

Safeguarding the ownership

rights of investors

At the core of what we do is the safeguarding of ownership rights. We are entrusted to hold the legal, digital record of ownership for equities, bonds, derivatives, money markets and participatory notes in collective investment schemes (exchange traded funds). We provide services for listed and unlisted securities, covering both public and private markets.

Power in

digital record keeping

We champion a South African financial market that has 100% digitised share certificates as the only way to truly safeguard all investors’ ownership rights. Approximately 4% of the share certificates in circulation in South Africa remain in paper format. Since 2018, issuers have unrestricted choice in converting share registers to electronic format. We work with issuers to ensure a smooth and seamless transition and rapid set up of digital share certificates, thereby working together to protect investors’ ownership rights and contributing to the advancement of South Africa’s financial market.

Seamless registry

services

Through the Beneficiary Download (BND) process, or share register, we collate ownership information provided by market participants, brokers and FSCA-approved nominees to create a single-source record of beneficial ownership of securities in South Africa. This service not only assists issuers in complying with their legal obligations, but also promotes market transparency.

Digital innovation to

connect issuers and shareholders

In a market first for South Africa, Strate e-Voting connects issuers and shareholders seamlessly in a fully digitised end-to-end voting platform. Shareholders can participate in company meetings from anywhere in the world, vote in real-time and change their votes multiple times before a meeting closes.

In-platform chat functionality ensures that shareholders are able to interact during a meeting, while having full transparency and visibility. Stronger investor relations are established between issuers and shareholders, and the legal right of the voting outcome is upheld while maintaining the highest levels of corporate governance and integrity at company meetings.

Strate e-Voting caters for nominees to distribute voting rights to their customer base. In this way, voting control is in the hands of the beneficial owners of shares – who are the ultimate owners of the company – and not intermediaries. Traditionally, shareholder votes go through a multi-level process involving numerous intermediaries before reaching an issuer. This takes time, increases the risk of human error, and does not give investors a direct line of communication to the company they are invested in. Strate e-Voting changes this paradigm and includes the following benefits:

  • More control for shareholders and beneficial owners
  • Fully auditable and traceable results in real time
  • Significantly improved corporate governance
  • Significantly improved shareholder engagement
  • Improved interaction between issuers and their shareholders
  • Reduced administrative burden and human intervention
  • Comprehensive reports that meet Code for Responsible Investing in South Africa (CRISA) requirements

See media coverage here.

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Robust settlement

services

We enable on- and off-market trading for multiple security types, including equities, bonds, money markets and exchange traded funds in both the public and private markets. With robust settlement systems and processes, we enable settlement and matching for all of South Africa’s equity exchanges: the JSE, A2X, CTSE and I-Ex

As South Africa’s principal central securities depository, we hold and update the business partner ID (BPID) for all money markets trading in South Africa.

We also provide key insights into the South African capital markets by providing data reports, which cover topics such as settlement volumes, resident versus non-resident ownership statistics, value of trades made, and more.

The latest Bonds and Money markets BPID files can now be accessed on Strate Online. Please login to view the files. For enquiries, contact StrateHelpDesk@strate.co.za for Money markets and Strate-CDAdmin@strate.co.za for Bonds.

Reliable operations and

world-class asset services

Our world-class asset servicing capabilities support issuers with both standard and complex corporate activities that unlock significant benefits for issuers and investors.

We facilitate multi-jurisdictional listings by providing comprehensive research and consulting solutions to local and foreign companies that need to understand the South African financial landscape and those that require the implementation of international market standards for dual listing and reporting purposes.

We facilitate the processing of corporate actions (dividends, interest and redemptions, among others) across all asset classes.

Supporting the traceability

of assets globally

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. 

We are authorised as South Africa’s Local Operating Unit (LOU), mandated by the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) to issue and record all LEIs for the South African market.

LEIs are unique to each entity and hold information about that entity’s ownership structure, which aids in financial transactions and asset transparency by serving as a type of global directory.

Some of the benefits of using a global LEI system include the ability to seamlessly trace assets and transactions; reliability as a trusted method of identification; public transparency through a non-proprietary open system; and the opportunity to reduce trading costs going forward.

To register for an LEI, click here.

What our clients say

"As a challenger exchange entering the market in 2017, our experience with Strate has been excellent. Strate has always been very professional, supportive and engaging with A2X, and most importantly, receptive to our ideas and needs as a business while also having a strong ability to implement"
Kevin Brady
CEO, A2X
"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"
Godwin Sepeng
Managing Director, Legacy Africa Fund Managers
"We are proud to have worked alongside Strate on formulating and executing this [unlisted debt solution] and creating new access points for investors seeking yield instruments. We are excited to work together with our partners at Strate on further innovations and in future issuances.”
David Shimkins
Founder, Nitinol Capital
“Innovation is of paramount importance when bringing relevant solutions to our partners. Our association with Strate enables us to further this objective."
Anton Newbury
Founder, Enso Equity
“As a prominent player in the financial services industry, Sanlam investments continuously strives to optimise and automate our processes. In an ever-changing world, the e‐voting platform allows us to participate, vote real time, and amend votes at any time before a meeting closes. In collaboration with our CSDPs, e-Voting allows us to seamlessly, and within a legally binding process, vote on securities in the public and private markets.”
Dewald du Toit
Sanlam Investments
“As pioneers in e-Voting , we have witnessed first-hand the transformative power it brings to the noteholder voting process. The electronic voting system greatly streamlined the administrative aspects of the voting process. As a result, we saw a significant reduction in the turnaround time for voting results, providing stakeholders with timely and decision-useful updates. Strate's support was unwavering throughout our journey.”
Abdul Khaliq Ismail
Head: Treasury and Debt Capital Markets at SA Home Loans
“Our onboarding experience was seamless and highly efficient. The e-Voting platform is user-friendly, intuitive, and significantly streamlines the voting process, allowing us to manage our voting responsibilities with ease. Our interactions with Strate have been characterised by professionalism and responsive support,”
Teboho Tsotetsi
Portfolio Manager, Lima Mbeu Investment Managers
“The onboarding process with Strate was efficient. Communication from the team was excellent and the training organised and informative. We are looking forward to working together,”
Nondumiso Dlamini
Client Relationship Manager at Camissa Asset Management
“We are satisfied with the capabilities of the system,”
Operations team
STANLIB
"The onboarding procedure was efficiently managed, and the responsiveness of the team was commendable. The implementation of this automated e-voting platform will significantly enhance our operational efficiency"
Astrid de Castro
Head of Operations, Perpetua Investment Mangers
“The onboarding experience was highly professional. The Strate team was very supportive over an extended period. We look forward to working together to extract maximum benefit from the e-Voting platform,"
Ahmed Omar
Portfolio Administration Manager, Argon Asset Management
“Our onboarding process with Strate was smooth, marked by seamless integration and efficient execution. The team was flexible and accommodating and made sure all our business requirements were met promptly and effectively. We look forward to working with Strate in the future and using the e-Voting platform,”
Fouwaaz Domingo
Operations Manager, Catalyst Fund Managers
”Our experience with the e-Voting team since the initial demo has been fantastic. The turnaround times throughout the process were quick and seamless, and we are excited to using the platform moving forward.”
Dean Howburg.
Operations Officer, Fairsure
“Our experience onboarding onto Strate's e-Voting platform has been exceptionally smooth. The platform offers a robust and user-friendly interface that will significantly enhance the ability for South African pension funds to exercise institutional stewardship by facilitating more transparent and timely voting processes”
Mehluli Mncube
Principal Consultant, ESG Insight SA
“The e-Voting team were always accessible and willing to help, and their attention to detail and quick response times enabled us to meet a tight deadline to go-live. We are looking forward to using the platform,” says Dennis Abrahams, Client Liaison Officer at Vunani Fund Managers.
Dennis Abrahams
Client Liaison Officer, Vunani Fund Managers
“Strate ensured the onboarding process went smoothly, with excellent client service, and the Strate platform is easy to navigate for voting.”
Nthabiseng Modiba
Operations Analyst, Cannon Fund Managers

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