London-based rating agency GSCS Benchmarks has given SA's settlement environment some high marks.
Strate CEO Monica Singer says the local market's efficiency ratings have soared since the introduction of electronic settlement and safekeeping nearly five years ago.
Strate is SA's central securities depository and electronic settlement house, responsible for among other things, electronic settlement of equities, bonds and money market instruments.
The rating agency has given the SA market a settlement index of 97.17, placing it seventh among 22 emerging equity markets. It is fourth-placed in terms of safekeeping, with an index rating of 94.93, while an operational index of 75.78 places it third in that category.
Strate says SA's volumes account for 8.32% of the aggregate volumes of the 22 emerging markets analysed.
"There is an increasingly convincing argument that the South African market should be classified as a major market rather than an emerging market," Singer says.
She points out that the 97.17 settlement index is above major market countries like the UK, (96.95), Austria (96.16), Ireland (91.65), Belgium (89.83) and Spain (74.25).
The GCSC Benchmarks report notes that several markets have seen significant quarterly improvements in their cross-border activity.
"Among these markets is SA, which has seen its share of emerging markets cross-border volumes rise by 14.6% on the back of a 39.6% increase in its own cross-border activity," it says.
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