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1. BH24 Reporters
HARARE – The Zimbabwe
Stock Exchange registered
drastic change of fortunes
last month with turnover and
volume rising by 38,4 per-
cent and 54 percent, respec-
tively.
While activity picked on the
stock market in February, as
both turnover and volume of
shares traded trended up,
market value maintained
downward spiral.
The change of fortune pro-
vides a glimmer of hope that
stocks may offer moderate
returns after the blood bath
experience of last year and
early 2016. The ZSE’s market capitaliza-
tion is already 11,42 per-
cent down for the year and
market watchers forecast the
market to retrace its steps
only 15 percent this year.
News Update as @ 1530 hours, Friday 04 March 2016
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ZSE revenue, volume up in Feb

2. During a forgettable year
for the stocks, ZSE’s market
capitalisation plunged to $3
billion as at December 31
from $4,3 billion in January
2015.
Tight liquidity and generally
tepid commodity prices, the
bulk of Zimbabwe’s exports,
suppressed corporate earn-
ings and investor sentiment
in stocks.
The industrial index had
opened 2015 at 167,16, but
dropped to 114, 85 points
by year end. The resources
index on the other hand
dropped to 23,72 from
55,38.
Due to the sustained weak-
ness in the stocks, the ZSE
market capitalization ended
the month of February 3,24
percent weaker at $2,85 bil-
lion compared to January.
Turnover rose 38,44 per-
cent to $15,73 million while
average daily trades for the
month came in at $749 000.
Volumes traded totaled 95,8
million shares.
Econet, Delta and Afdis
accounted for the highest
contribution to the value of
shares traded on the bourse
at 40 percent, 35 percent
and 6 percent, respectively.
There was little joy though
in terms of the performance
of the main industrial index,
which dropped 3,4 percent to
close the month of February
weaker at 99,5.
The index was largely
weighed down by losses in
cigarette manufacturer, BAT
and telecoms giant Econet,
which offset good gains in
beverages maker, Delta.
ZSE, a key indicator of
economic performance, has
continued its wobbling from
2015, when the economy
grew by 1,5 percent from
initial forecast of 3,2 per-
cent.
With softening prospects for
global economic performance
on account of weak commod-
ity prices and slow growth in
China, growth is seen at 1,5
percent in 2016.
But the coming months may
just bring the much craved
for good tidings, as many
companies start reporting
their results for the financial
to December 2015.
“We expect to see continued
pressure on the consumer
space, as companies grap-
ple to improve efficiencies
and enhance margins amidst
lower spend and downward
pressure on pricing from
cheaper imports,” IH securi-
ties said.
The market watchers said
that they have noted return
of confidence in the banking
sector as reflected in the
quality of earnings released
by banking stocks.
This is attributed to the
de-risking of the financial
services market through
acquisition of non-perform-
ing loans RBZ special pur-
pose vehicle, ZAMCO.●
2 news

3. BH243

4. By Elita Chikwati
HARARE – Financial insti-
tutions should come up with
mechanisms on how loans
extended to farmers can be
restructured as most farmers
may not be able to repay due
to poor harvests.
“We encourage farmers to pay
back loans but looking at the
current situation, the bulk
of the crop has been badly
affected by drought and is a
write off,” Zimbabwe Farmers
Union director Mr Paul Zakariya
said. “It is better for financial
institutions to engage farmers
and see how they can best
restructure their loans…to reach
a win-win situation.”
“Most farmers including con-
tracted farmers may not be
able to service their debts. The
cotton crop has been badly hit
by drought and only few areas
have a good crop. Maize and
tobacco were also not spared
by drought and this will affect
yields,” he added.
Mr Zakariya said financial insti-
tutions could consider pushing
the debts to next season.
Zimbabwe National Farmers
union vice president Mr Gari-
kayi Msika farmers should work
with financial institutions to
restructure loans because only
a few will be able to repay.
“The drought has evidently
affected crops and both parties
should work together,” he said.
Agriculture economist Mr
Midway Bhunu said agriculture
was exposed to the vagaries of
nature and risk management
should be part of business
management by every farmer.
“The very short term answer
for the financiers is to roll over
the debts and agree on a very
accommodative payment plan
that can be spread over sev-
eral seasons until the farmers
recover from the wounds of this
season’s drought. “Dialogue is
very important,” he said.
Mr Bhunu said farmers should
also consider insurance to
guard against natural disasters
such as drought.
“The long term strategy is for
farmers to hedge against such
calamities as drought through
insurance.
Agricultural insurance is a very
important aspect of framing
which needs to be up scaled in
this country.●
4 news
Roll over debts, farmers urge banks

5. BH245

6. BH246

7. By Funny Hudzerema
HARARE - Zimbabwe’s tourism
players should take advantage
of the new visa regime that
allows visitors from Southern
African countries gain free entry
into the country, a senior official
said.
Department of Immigration
principal director Mr Clemence
Masango said the changes in
visa requirements would go a
long way in boosting tourism in
the country.
“We expect ZTA (the Zimbabwe
Tourism Authority) together with
the industry in general to now
gear up, take advantage of this
development and fully market
our country,” he told journal-
ists yesterday. “It is expected
that the new visa regime will
enhance migration flows into
Zimbabwe with the resultant
socio economic benefits to the
country.
“We believe this is a good devel-
opment that (will) positively
contribute to successful imple-
mentation of the Zimbabwe
Agenda for Sustainable Socio
and Economic Transformation.”
The new visa-free system took
effect as of yesterday (Thurs-
day).
“This new position completes
the circle and process for us
as Zimbabwe in removing all
visa controls in respect of all
Southern Africa Development
Community countries in line
with and fulfilment of the spirit
and objectives of the SADC
Protocol on the Facilitation of
Movement of Persons. All SADC
countries no longer need visas
to enter Zimbabwe as they are
now in category A of our visa
regime,” he said.
Mr Masango said 37 countries
including China, Equatorial
Guinea, Iran, Algeria, Turkey
and Cuba had been moved from
Category C to Category B with
immediate effect.
He said although China was now
in Category B, there were condi-
tions attached to that position.
He said some of the conditions
were that only Chinese tourist
travelling as a group cleared
by tour operators and travel
agencies in their country, qual-
ify. “Consultations will continue
to be made with stakeholders,
with a view to further relax
visa controls in order to make
travel easier and Zimbabwe a
more favourable and accessible
destination.”
A recent research by the African
Development Bank showed
Africa remains largely closed off
to inter-continental travel with
Africans requiring visas to travel
to 55 percent of other countries.
On average, Africans need visas
to travel to 55 percent of other
African countries, can get visas
on arrival in 25 percent of other
countries and don’t need a visa
to travel to 20 percent of other
countries.
The reports said policymakers
have a key role to play in help-
ing Africans to move freely in
support of Agenda 2063’s call to
abolish visa requirements for all
Africans by 2018.●
7 news
Zim scraps visas for SADC, tourism sector set to benefit.

8. BH248

9. BH249

10. HARARE - The local bourse
continues to suffer from pre-
vailing weak macro-economic
fundamentals as the main-
stream industrial index put
off 0.60 (or 0,60 percent)
compared to the previous
week.
Following today’s trades, the
industrial index shed 0.02
to close at 98.80 as three
counters lost ground.
CBZ slid $0,0100 to close
at $0,1000 while Edgars
dropped $0,0010 to $0,0540
and conglomerate Inns-
cor closed at $1800 after a
$0,0008 loss.
On the upside, telecoms
giant Econet was up $0,0041
to settle at $0,2301, while
Old Mutual shifted up
$0,0030 to trade at $1,8030
and Delta Beverages added
$0,0025 to close at $0,5525.
The mining index was flat
at 19.14 points as Bindura,
Falgold, Hwange and RioZim
all maintained previous price
levels at $0,0095, $0,0050,
$0,0300 and $0,1040,
respectively.
On a week-on-week basis,
the mining index was
unchanged
- BH24 Reporter ●
ZSE10
Equities market drops 0,60pc from prior week

11. BH2411

12. Movers CHANGE Today Price USc SHAKERS Change TODAY Price USc
Econet 1.81 23.01 CBZ -9.09 10.00
Delta 0.45 55.25 Edgars -1.81 5.40
Old Mutual 0.16 180.30 Innscor -0.44 18.00
Index Previous Today Move Change
Industrial 98.82 98.80 -0.02 points -0.02%
Mining 19.14 19.14 +0.00 points +0.00%
12 zse tables
ZSE
Indices
Stock Exchange
Previous
02 03
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13. 13 DIARY OF EVENTS
The black arrow indicate level of load shedding across the country.
POWER GENERATION STATS
Gen Station
04 March 2016
Energy
(Megawatts)
Hwange 317 MW
Kariba 460 MW
Harare 30 MW
Munyati 30 MW
Bulawayo 0 MW
Imports 0 - 450 MW
Total 1229 MW
•Thursday 24 March 2016 - Annual General Meeting of Willdale Limited; Place: Boardroom, Willdale Administration Block,
19.5km peg Lomagundi Road, Mount Hampden; Time: 1100 hours...
THE BH24 DIARY

14. ABUJA - Nigeria may reduce
the oil benchmark of $38 per
barrel outlined in its 2016
budget if global crude prices
continue to fall, the budget
and planning minister said
on Thursday.
The drop in the oil price to
around $30 a barrel, from
over $100 in 2014, has
prompted the worst eco-
nomic crisis in years in Afri-
ca's biggest crude producer
which relies on oil exports
for about 95 percent of for-
eign earnings.
Minister Udoma Udo Udoma
told lawmakers that any
review of the oil price on
which the record 6 trillion
naira ($30.3 billion) budget
is predicated could take
place as early as June.
"The benchmark of $38 per
barrel of price of oil is not
sacrosanct because of the
subsisting global environ-
ment," Udoma told a parlia-
mentary committee scruti-
nising the budget, which is
expected to be passed by
lawmakers on March 17.
"If at mid-year there is no
improvement, we would
come back to you for mid-
term review. The review may
come as quickly as June this
year," he said.
Finance minister Kemi
Adeosun, who also appeared
before the committee, said
releasing money from the
budget into the country's
monetary system would
"stimulate the economy".
"The economy is slow right
now and by the time we
start paying contractors and
others, the economy will pick
up. We expect that from next
year, our debt will reduce,"
she said.
Nigeria hopes to raise about
$5 billion abroad to cover
part of its 2016 budget defi-
cit, which is projected to hit
3 trillion naira ($15 billion).
"We have secured debts
with Chinese Nexim Bank
and the World Bank at very
low interest rates. We are
borrowing to finance criti-
cal sectors of the economy,"
added the finance minister.
Brent futures, the global
benchmark for crude, were
trading around $37 a barrel
on Thursday.
- Reuters●
regioNAL News14
Nigeria may reduce $38/barrel budget oil benchmark if prices fall further: minister

15. Gold is back in a bull market
for the first time since 2013,
with prices rising even as
global stocks advance.
“Gold and equities rally-
ing together is a positive
story for bullion,” Jordan
Eliseo, Sydney-based chief
economist at trader Austral-
ian Bullion Co., said in an
e-mail. “The rally in equities
is based on a belief in even
more extreme monetary
measures by developed mar-
ket central banks, so it’s not
surprising to see gold rally in
this environment too.”
Bullion for immediate deliv-
ery settled at $1,264.25 an
ounce on Thursday. That
marks a 20 percent gain
from the recent closing low
in December, meeting the
common definition of a bull
market. On Friday, prices
slipped to $1,261.30 at 3:57
p.m. in Singapore, trim-
ming the weekly gain to 3.1
percent.
Gold rallied 19 percent this
year, beating gauges in
Treasuries, currencies and
equities amid concerns the
slowdown in China’s growth
will hurt the global economy
and prompt further central
bank stimulus. Bets have
increased on the Federal
Reserve delaying inter-
est-rate increases, helping
boost the investment appeal
for bullion. Asian stocks
rebounded to an eight-week
high Friday ahead of a report
on U.S. nonfarm payrolls
which will give investors
further insight into the
health of the world’s biggest
economy.
“You can’t deny it’s in a
very strong uptrend, and
investors are playing on that
momentum,” said Donald
Selkin, chief market strat-
egist at National Securities
Corp. in New York, who helps
manage about $3 billion.
“The way things are going in
the stock market, people are
running to gold.”
Prices rallied Thursday as
weaker-than-expected U.S.
factory orders and slower
growth in service indus-
tries boosted demand for a
haven. Growth in U.S. ser-
vices industries slowed for
a fourth month in February,
prompting the first job cuts
in two years, according to
a report by the Institute for
Supply Management. The
group’s employment measure
dipped below the expansion
threshold for the first time
since February 2014. Appli-
cations for jobless claims
unexpectedly climbed last
week, a Labor Department
report showed.
‘Dark Horse’
“Gold has been such a dark
horse for some time that
we’re just seeing a pick up
because people are saying
‘Let’s reweight’,” Jonathan
Barratt, chief investment
officer at Ayers Alliance
Securities in Sydney, said by
phone. “People are realizing
that it represents a good
value proposition. Mandatory
buying is forcing the hand of
all the shorts.”
The bullish sentiment in
gold is being reflected in
exchange-traded funds.
Investors boosted holdings
in gold-backed ETFs by 259
metric tons this quarter
through March 3, poised for
the biggest such gain since
the three months ended
June 2010. Holdings have
been increasing after three
straight years of withdraw-
als.
Open interest, a tally of out-
standing contracts in Comex
futures, climbed to the high-
est since October, suggest-
ing “a continuation of the
prevailing direction, which
in this case is bullish,” said
Tai Wong, the director of
commodity products trading
at BMO Capital Markets Corp.
in New York
.-Bloomberg●
internatioNAL News15
Gold snaps back to bull market as prices surge on haven demand

16. By Agrippa GR Mugwagwa
Banks are going to have a
‘Uber’ moment said Anthony
Jenkins after leaving Barclays
as CEO in 2015.
Jenkins’ message is an
instructive characterization
of the rise of fintechs which
have gained prominence on a
wave of innovation in finan-
cial services delivery in 2015.
Fintechs made their impact
in both the developed as
well as the developing world
with interesting results. In
the developing world the
impact has been profound
and ground-breaking in most
markets.
Fintechs are basically finan-
cial technology start-up com-
panies that have carved an
aggregator role between tra-
ditional banks and the mar-
ket, delivering some exciting
value-added services using
software better than banks.
In the transport industry,
ride-sharing tech outfit Uber
has turned the taxi industry
on its head in most devel-
oped markets, and software
ingenuity is at the heart of
the innovation. Interest-
ingly Uber has also landed
in some African capitals
such as Johannesburg, Lagos
and Nairobi, never mind the
traffic chaos that hogs most
of African cities. In mid-2015
the median waiting time in
Cape Town and Johannes-
burg was not way out of line
with international trends at
3.5 and 3.6 minutes, respec-
tively. According to Uber
Nigeria Head, Ebi Etawodi,
Lagos is experiencing expo-
nential growth of 200X, but
predictably an outlier waiting
mean of 8.4 minutes which
is staggering when compared
to leaders San Francisco 2.6
minutes.
Uber has many other peers
that have disrupted the sta-
tus quo and made a tonne of
money in the process. Uber
services and ambitions go
beyond ride hailing; Uber-
copter, Uberhealth, UberEats,
UberAssist and other value
added services being in
operation or pilot in different
markets. The current extreme
weather conditions across
the globe resonates with the
solutions offered by Uber
in the infographic above,
no surprise they could have
featured large at the Paris
Climate Change conference
in December 2015. Below
is a snapshot of well known
digital disruption case stud-
ies; Fintechs are seeking to
disrupt the financial services
industry in pretty much the
same way these businesses
have carved space for them-
selves in their respective
industries. One of the most
successful payments aggre-
gators in recent times has
been Paypal which opened up
the e-commerce arena in a
game-changing way.
September 2015 was an
eventful month for me,
speaking at 2 fintech-ori-
ented banking events in
16 analysis16 analysis
Financial inclusion, fintechs and digital disruption in Africa

17. 17 analysis17 analysis
Johannesburg (Retail Banking
Africa by Flemming Gulf) and
Nairobi (Cards and Payments
by Terrapin) inside a week.
Value-added, over-the-top
or some such term was the
common refrain to otherwise
vibrant discourses in financial
service innovation in Africa.
It is quite apparent when one
follows the presentations and
debates the majority of banks
are ill-prepared to manage
the fintech phenomenon.
Higher up in boardrooms the
focus is mostly on the tradi-
tional methodology of doing
business. I presented an
e-commerce paper at the East
African Cards and Payments
conference in Nairobi which
was themed ‘Future Bank’.
My conclusion was that banks
are doing well in the east
and other African regions in
embracing incremental tech-
nology applications to auto-
mate and improve customer
convenience.
Mobile Money in Africa has
created a solid foundation
for financial inclusion on the
continent. Mobile network
operators and fintechs have
largely leapfrogged tradi-
tional banks in rolling this
financial service. Fintechs,
many of whom are extensions
of some of the network oper-
ators have seen a boon ush-
ered in by mobile money as
most banks are not as nimble
in exploiting the opportunity.
To have a fighting chance
in the new brave disrupted
world of mobile money, finan-
cial inclusion, on-demand
economy and eroded trust in
banks they have to embrace
fintechs through acquisitions,
partnerships or sponsoring
start-ups as the best defence
to fend off the big fight on
the horizon.
Unfortunately the majority
of banks have a cynical view
for tech start-ups, which
does not bode well for their
defence. A typical estab-
lished African commercial
bank is unlikely to launch a
peer-to-peer lending service,
its deemed way too risky.
Escalate the conversation to
bitcoin and crypto-currencies
and the discussion quickly
hits a cul de sac.
However, it is also true that
there is much market liquid-
ity out there that can be
harnessed and deployed to
deficit areas and benefit the
economy at large. Most cen-
tral banks and governments
on the continent are pushing
banks to craft financial inclu-
sion plans which should facil-
itate the economic participa-
tion by marginalized citizens
at the base of the pyramid.
If at all, MNOs and fintechs
are the inclusion priority for
most central banks as their
initiatives are embracing
more people into the financial
ecosystem. Fintechs do not
need to be nudged or encour-
aged, they are burning the
midnight candle to develop
solutions that will ensure
they cream the opportuni-
ties. Their trademark is to do
things quicker, smarter and
cheaper, whilst banks focus
on doing the same old things
better, quicker and perhaps
cost effectively. The moneti-
zation model in value-added
financial services has shifted
in a big way, and banks need
a sea-change in thinking to
make a decent return. Even
though they invariably do
not have as much budget as
mobile phone operators, they
generally have more market-
ing swagger than most banks.
I asked my good friend
Johan Bosini at JUMO.WORLD
why they had changed their
tech-driven financial out-
fit’s name from AFB? His
tongue-in-cheek answer was
that the old name sounded
so much like a bank and top
tech minds in the market
are unlikely to get attracted
by such. JUMO.WORLD uses
a mobile-based algorithm
to disburse micro-loans to
people they have never met
across the African conti-
nent. The emerging young
financial services consumer
understands and believes that
indeed tech-driven algorithms
have less bias and prejudice
in lending than relationship

18. managers.
African banks in particular
do not have much choice
than reinvent and repack-
age themselves to seize the
new opportunities via the
untapped financial inclusion
market. The oft flaunted
reasons for the siege that
banks find themselves under
is largely the heightened
regulation post-2008 finan-
cial crash (now worsened by
anti-laundering and coun-
ter-terrorism efforts glob-
ally), low levels of trust and
a huge contingent of smart
ex-bankers seeking out
opportunities. You add the
low barriers to starting up a
fintech, there you have the
proverbial death by a thou-
sand wounds for banks. The
barriers to establish a fintech
are generally low in most
markets, as low as $5,000
given that much of the cap-
ital is skills, innovation and
intellect. They are the kings
of the API (application pro-
gramming interface), they are
masters at commercialising
interface with the customer
via tech.
Banks are also not seriously
taking note of a new trend
where MNOs and fintechs are
actively seeking to ‘de-bank
the banked’ who elect to use
their prepaid or mobile pay-
ment products not because
their income or social profile
is low but because they will-
ingly prefer them over normal
bank accounts.
Banking has been commod-
itised through technology
and for African operators the
banking penetration rate of
+/-20% means a great upside
potential for MNOs and fin-
techs. In his Bank 3.0 Brett
King predicts that ‘banking
will be everywhere and any-
one can provide the utility of
a bank’
Big banking brands have gone
on to reconfigure their skills
set, with reports indicating
that almost a third of Gold-
man Sachs’ complement are
engineers. Whilst a change in
the skills make-up is a move
in the right direction banks
have many issues against
them, not least inertia or lack
of agility to rush ahead of the
curve given their well known
conservative ethos. Banks
have for long invested in
trying to do the same things
better, but the new order
demands quite the opposite;
do new innovative things
faster than your competition.
Legacy banking systems
remain an albatross for most
banks as they are not only
expensive but relatively
inflexible when compared to
the fresh applications that
fintechs are bringing to the
table. Big banking soft-
ware firms are also under
immense pressure to reinvent
themselves to be flexible,
more innovative, sexy and
fintechy so as to protect
market-share which is under
obvious threat. They stam-
pede to sponsor, exhibit and
share perspectives at most
conferences as a route to win
mind and market-share in
an increasingly competitive
environment. They have also
broken down their prod-
uct offering and in certain
instances partner the small
fintechs to breakthrough
where they deem the later’s
value proposition to be com-
pelling – co-opetition.
McKinsey research predicts
that technology will wipe out
two-thirds of profits from
retail lending, car loans and
credit cards. The strange
combination of nerds in
t-shirts and venture capital
has firmly set its sights on
disrupting financial services,
in much the same way tech
has disrupted other industries
– peer-to-peer lending, pay-
ments, wealth management
through to crowd-funding.
One major difference however
is that fintechs need banks to
navigate the intense regu-
lation and integration into
the banking and payments
networks, requirements that
are not so critical in other
industries. It is thus wise
that fintechs do not antago-
nize but partner the incum-
bents as they expand their
influence via the interface. –
TechZim ●
18 analysis18 analysis