New era for South Africa’s biggest stock exchange

Following over two years of efforts, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) has greenlit the JSE’s Simplification Project.

This project, aimed at simplifying the JSE’s Listings Requirements, is expected to help the biggest stock exchange in Africa attract and retain more listings.

This is considered crucial for the exchange’s sustainability, as the JSE has seen a wave of delistings over the past few years.

On Tuesday, 20 January, the JSE announced that its plans to turn this tide around have been given the green light by the FSCA.

South Africa’s financial sector watchdog approved the exchange’s amendments to its Listings Requirements dealing with the Simplification Project.

Launched in September 2023, this project is set to reposition the JSE’s Listings Requirements by using plain language to record concise regulatory objectives, removing ambiguity and duplication, and reducing overall complexity. 

“A significant ancillary benefit of the Simplification Project is a substantial reduction in the volume of the Listings Requirements, by more than 50%,” the JSE said.

The simplified Listings Requirements will replace the previous version in its entirety and will come into force for new applicants seeking a listing on 13 January 2026 and existing issuers on 16 February 2026. 

“The approval and forthcoming implementation of the simplified Listings Requirements form part of the JSE’s broader strategic drive to create an enabling environment that attracts and retains listings, while upholding transparency and investor protection,” the exchange explained.

It said the simplified requirements are easier to navigate, clearer in purpose, and reduce the administrative burden on listed entities while preserving crucial protections. 

For example, under the simplified requirements, the voting threshold for share issues and buy-backs has been reduced from 75% to 50%.

This better aligns the JSE’s rules with other international markets and makes capital raising more flexible when issuing securities.

“The FSCA’s approval of our simplified Listings Requirements marks a pivotal step in modernising South Africa’s capital markets,” the JSE’s director of issuer regulation, Andre Visser, said.

End of an era

The approval of the JSE’s simplified requirements marks an important milestone for the exchange, which has gone from bleeding companies in a slate of delistings to a listings boom in just two years.

Over the past decade, the JSE has taken severe pain from a wave of delistings and the country’s weak economy.

In the 1990s, the JSE had approximately 850 listed companies. This number dropped to around 400 by 2012 and dipped below 300 by 2024.

This decline also showed in investor activity. A decade ago, the JSE had between R25 billion and R35 billion traded daily on the exchange. The daily value traded dropped between R10 billion and R14 billion at times in 2023.

While South Africa’s weak economy played a major contributing role, many also blamed the JSE for this decline.

Critics cited the bourse’s stringent listing requirements and the high costs associated with being a listed entity as reasons for companies choosing to delist, and a shortage of new listings.

“The reality is that while the JSE’s world-class regulatory environment ensures investor safety, overregulation can make the market unattractive to businesses due to rigid and significant reporting requirements,” PSG Wealth’s Adriaan Pask previously explained.

“The JSE has been struggling, and it’s not the most obvious place for businesses to seek funding.”

However, the tide started to turn over the past two years, with the JSE’s Simplification Project and other efforts bearing fruit.

The JSE’s efforts started paying off in late 2023 and continued into 2024, with the JSE seeing a rise in new listings and fewer delistings.

One of the bourse’s most exciting moments over the past few years was the listing of discount retailer Boxer in November 2024, which marked the biggest listing and one of the most successful IPOs on the JSE in years.

2024 also saw the listings of WeBuyCars and Rainbow Chicken, while the JSE welcomed Optasia, Cell C and ASP Isotopes in 2025.

JSE Head of Primary Markets Maurice Madiba previously told Daily Investor that this positive momentum is set to continue.

He said the JSE’s pipeline of new listings looks very healthy, with Coca-Cola HBC, Fidelity Services, and Canal+ all having announced plans to list in the coming years.

“We’ve also seen a decline in delistings, so it just shows you that the JSE has responded to the market sentiment and has responded to the market’s concerns in an adequate manner,” he said.