Liquidity and prime of prime services provider Scope Prime announced on Thursday that it is adding CFDs on a range of South African stocks and ETFs to its product set.
Companies and ETFs listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange are now available for the company’s institutional clients to access.
Several large companies are listed on the exchange, including Naspers, MTN and Shoprite. ETFs trading on the exchange include both more ‘vanilla’ index products and sectoral ETFs.
“This upgrade to our product set in South Africa comes at a pivotal time for the local market,” said Daniel Lawrence, Scope Prime’s CEO.
“As some other brokers are pulling back from the region, we are doubling down on our commitment to providing better market access globally, including access to JSE-listed equity CFDs. In times of unprecedented market volatility, we know that having reliable counterparties to work with has never been more important.”
No Securities Transfer Tax
Like the UK, where investors have to pay stamp duty on share purchases, South African investors have to pay a Securities Transfer Tax when trading in locally listed stocks.
Trading a CFD on the instrument means that the holder doesn’t have to pay that tax. Again, this is the same as the UK where institutional investors often use CFDs as a way of taking a position in a London-listed company without paying stamp duty.
Scope has been expanding its presence in Africa over the last few years. The company now has a strong retail and B2B operation in Kenya, which also acts as a regional hub for nearby markets.
The company also has an entity in South Africa and is one of a small number of firms to have an over the counter derivatives provider (‘ODP’) license.
