The Securities and Exchange Commission of Zimbabwe (SecZim) has set up an innovation office at its Harare headquarters. 

According to the SecZim CEO, Anymore Taruvinga, the hub’s main aim is to engage, communicate and guide innovators through the existing capital market regulatory landscape. 

The SecZim Innovation Office is being launched into the capital market to ease fintech integration to the intermediary infrastructure, boost efficiency in service delivery and focus on improvements to regulatory and policy frameworks. 

“The function of the office is thus mainly premised on facilitating a mutually beneficial engagement between the commission and the market,” Taruvinga said, adding that the office is the first move towards leading its regulatory Sandbox. 

“With time and resources, our endeavour is to have a full-fledged regulatory Sandbox that will allow even more robust engagement with innovators for the purposes of proofing concepts, testing new products and services and shaping regulation,” he continued. 

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Zimbabwe is confident the office will help it catch up to other authorities that currently have regulatory Sandboxes, Zimbabwe Independent reports. 

“I, therefore, encourage all SMIs and potential innovators out there to unleash your innovative ideas and engage our Innovation Office,” Taruvinga went on to say. 

In addition, SecZim board chairperson Yona Banda said the innovations boosted transparency and aided the fight against money laundering. 

“Innovation must usher in the ease of doing business and improve efficiency, especially for retail investors in different parts of the country, thereby broadening our investor base,” Banda stated.

“Embracing fintech is inevitable given the changing operating environment. It’s either we adapt as a market, or we face the wrath of risks often associated with unregulated markets.”

Increasing innovation and making the market more accessible to sectors including medium and small-scale enterprises, he added: “This is very important that the innovations that we are speaking to should actually trickle down to those sectors in our economy which give impact to our national aspirations.”