A welcome blow to JSE’s monopoly
ROB ROSE: Disrupting the JSE Capitec style
Though it talks boldly of targeting an untapped market, can the JSE’s new rival, 4AX, really break a 130-year-old stranglehold on the markets?
The best gift the JSE could have given aspiring rivals was its ill-advised effort last year to block the launch of two competitors — 4AX and ZAR X. The JSE, it seemed, recognised perhaps its most profound threat yet in a 130-year history dating back to when it was little more than a breezy tent in the dusty streets of 19th century Jo’burg. It’s not as easy to be a monopoly as it once was, what with the Guptas wearing out the fingers of Bell Pottinger’s drones, who’re tweeting around-the-clock about the danger of white monopoly capital. But even the real monopolies have had a torrid few months. Eskom, when it’s not destroying evidence of its bosses’ shady activities, has been burning cash. Transnet and Acsa are little better. So of all the monopolies, the JSE is perhaps the most successful.Perhaps realising the futility of its objection to rivals, the JSE ultimately withdrew its objection. The result is that two new exchanges have opened shop — the first, ZAR X, popped the cork on it...
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