Electronic trading platform for govt bonds

Johannesburg - The Treasury is still on track to implement an electronic platform for primary dealers trading government bonds on the secondary market to ensure pricing transparency, it said on Friday.

The project has been in the pipeline for more than a year, and will complement the current system where bonds are traded bilaterally, with the deals reported later to the JSE securities exchange for matching and settlement.

"The primary reasons for this decision are to enhance the transparency within the South African bond market and to enable the National Treasury to more accurately monitor the activities of the primary dealers," the Treasury said in a statement.

South Africa currently has eight primary dealers who are permitted to participate at weekly government bond auctions and are also required to trade the debt on the secondary market.

Industry officials have said it could be months before the platform is operational.