Let’s get one thing clear from the start: the JSE is more than a marketplace for financial products. It is the SA capital marketplace, the canary in the economic coal mine and often the battleground over policy, transformation and international credibility.
When Leila Fourie announced she would step down as CEO in March next year, with Valdene Reddy set to take the wheel, the narrative from the JSE was predictably celebratory. But in this news platform’s spirit — direct, sceptical and allergic to spin — we need to dig beneath the media statements, and ask: after seven years, is Fourie leaving a genuinely transformed bourse or simply a slicker but fundamentally embattled one?
Fourie inherited a bruised exchange in 2019. Steinhoff’s R300bn-plus accounting fraud had shattered investor trust, and a wave of governance failures at Tongaat Hulett and other smaller companies had exposed the JSE’s soft-touch regulation. Not to mention captured state-owned entities with billions of rand in listed debt instruments.
To her credit, Fourie responded with substance. The listing requirements were tightened, especially for debt instruments, for which disclosures had long lagged behind the equity market standards. Until recently, companies issuing bonds on the JSE could avoid telling investors about board changes, politically exposed persons or related-party tender policies. That changed in 2021, with new rules forcing debt issuers to disclose material information and align with King IV governance principles.
The reforms matter. With more than R3-trillion invested in the JSE debt market, institutional investors and this newspaper demanded better protection. The new rules gave them a clearer window into state-owned entities and a politically entangled board. Still, they don’t fix the deeper problem in which borrowers still hold the upper hand in loan negotiations, and investors bear the legal costs when things go wrong. Disclosure is a start, not a shield.
On the equity side, Fourie’s tenure saw the JSE consolidate its rule book, simplify listing pathways and introduce segments for sustainability-linked exchange traded funds and actively managed funds. She also launched private markets platforms and a voluntary carbon market, moves that broadened the exchange product set and signalled a shift towards alternative capital-raising models.
Even so, the numbers tell a more sobering story. The JSE’s listed universe has shrunk dramatically, from more than 600 companies two decades ago to about 300 now. Delistings outpace IPOs while small caps continue to exit, citing compliance burdens, low liquidity and lack of investor interest. The rule book may be clearer, but it’s still backed by the 300-page Companies Act, the 84-page Financial Markets Act and the King IV governance code. For many executives, being publicly traded isn’t worth the cost.
Fourie defenders argue that high standards protect investors and prevent disasters such as Sagarmatha Technologies, a technically insolvent company that nearly floated as the “Amazon of Africa”. They are right. But the JSE’s challenge isn’t just to keep bad companies out; it is to make good companies want to stay.
That’s where Fourie’s legacy is mixed. She modernised the exchange, improved earnings quality and expanded its strategic footprint, sure, but she couldn’t reverse the structural decline in listings. The reforms made the JSE more defensible, not more magnetic.
Her successor, Reddy, inherits a more agile institution but also a more fragile one. The JSE’s future depends on whether it can balance regulatory integrity with commercial appeal, and whether it can rebuild a listings pipeline that reflects the real economy, not just its elite corners.
For savers, the economy and the JSE, there are reasons to worry if this delisting trend continues. Pension funds, legally bound to invest heavily in domestic equities, now face a shrinking pool of listed companies, making it harder to diversify risk or find growth. For the broader economy, a stock exchange that struggles to retain or attract listings starves companies of capital, and for the JSE as a business, fewer listings mean fewer fees.
Fourie leaves with a reputation intact and her reform record clear. She was a moderniser, not a redeemer. The JSE is stronger for her leadership, but still searching for its next wave of relevance.
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