Rwanda joins regional stock exchanges in data vending as trading income falters

East African stock markets are pursuing additional revenue raising prospects in data vending business to cushion against faltering trading incomes, linked to declining equity market performances across the region.

Rwanda Stock Exchange (RSE) is the latest entrant into the business that the regional exchanges are viewing as an important source of revenue in turning around their financial fortunes, battered by declining share trading activities and shrinking proposals for rights issues and initial public offerings (IPOs).

“Typically in the exchange (RSE), we have sources of revenues such as trading income, listing and so on, but now we have started also doing some bit of data vending and other few things that can generate more revenues, but we are remaining focused on new products coming to the market,” RSE’s Chief Executive Celestin Rwabukumba said in an interview, adding that the exchange is struggling to attract new companies to list and that last year (2023) and this year, it is yet to receive any list proposals.

“This is diversification of our revenue streams other than trading income. This year we will not have any new listing and last year we didn’t have any equities (listing).”

More than 10,000 new investors joined the RSE in 2023 enticed by the promising prospects of expanded range of investment products, full automation of trading activities and conversion of the exchange into a commercial entity through diversification of its revenue streams.

RSE posted a 17 percent increase in the number of investments accounts to 69,654 active investors in November 2023 from 59,530 in the same period in 2022, according to its latest annual report (2023).

The story originally appeared on The East African.