Outgoing JSE CEO Leila Fourie says she is leaving the 138-year-old bourse on a stronger footing, characterised by a strong balance sheet and a digitally transformed offering.
“My legacy has really revolved around transforming the exchange to a digital, modern technology stack. I think I leave the exchange in a much healthier position than it was in 2019,” she said.
Fourie, who took the reins from Nicky Newton-King six years ago, was bullish about the JSE, Africa’s most liquid capital market, which posted a record R1bn profit after tax this week.
While several companies exited the bourse, including MultiChoice, Adcock Ingram and Patrice Motsepe’s investment firm African Rainbow Capital Investments, Cell C, Optasia and Valterra debuted on the bourse in 2025.
Fourie said that under her tenure the JSE had removed red tape to reduce the complexity of listing requirements.
She said going forward, South Africa could play a role in global market allocation, and the JSE had been engaging with the National Treasury to get it to consider creating a financial system to enable hard currency trading in South Africa.
If we can create a conducive environment to encourage investment by South Africans in their own country and hard currency, and if we can also create the opportunity for internationals to start to invest in hard currency opportunities, that will internationalise the bourse
In the budget last week, finance minister Enoch Godongwana announced that fund managers are going to be able to manage hard currency funds in South Africa for the first time, which would move the dial for attracting further investments.
“Research indicates that approximately R10-trillion of South African citizens’ assets is invested offshore, and if we can create a conducive environment to encourage investment by South Africans in their own country and hard currency, and if we can also create the opportunity for internationals to start to invest in hard currency opportunities, that will internationalise the bourse,” Fourie said.
She said the next step would hopefully result in the introduction of foreign currency listings.
“That would mean, for example, when the government wants to raise bonds in dollars, they don’t have to go to Luxembourg or to Europe to raise those bonds, they can come to the JSE, and both South Africans and internationals will come to the JSE to trade those bonds, rather than having all of that activity taking place offshore,” she said.
The JSE’s strong financial position comes amid the renewed investor confidence in emerging markets, including South Africa.
Foreign investors were seizing local bonds, with South Africa’s net foreign investment at R122bn in 2025, up from R82bn a year earlier, Fourie said.
She said that so far this year, government bonds had almost doubled to R52bn, compared with R24bn in the prior year, with the weighting of the JSE in the FTSE Emerging Market Index currently close to 5%.
We’re about to enter a third year of a primary budget surplus, and there is a strong sense by investors internationally that the SOEs are becoming more independent financially, turning a profit ... all bodes well for an economy that is starting to turn the corner
The JSE had seen a “remarkable” turnaround in the appetite for South African stocks by international investors in recent months, she added.
“Many investors internationally passively follow the index, and so as we get closer to a 5% mark weighted in that index, we start to see South African stocks really start to matter. Even the JSE, which is often a bellwether of the economy, was up 35% in US dollar terms last year.”
The weakening dollar, South Africa’s removal from the Financial Action Task Force’s greylist, and the upgrading of South Africa in its sovereign rating by S&P towards the end of last year have played in the country’s favour, Fourie said.
In addition, South Africa had hosted a successful G20 summit in November, and the country’s fiscal credibility, coupled with the advances by the Treasury to stick to its primary budget surplus, were laudable, she said.
“We’re about to enter a third year of a primary budget surplus, and there is a strong sense by investors internationally that the SOEs are becoming more independent financially, turning a profit ... all bodes well for an economy that is starting to turn the corner.”
She added that while a structural shift is needed to address unemployment and low economic growth, there is a shift in sentiment after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently upgraded its outlook on South Africa, and the Reserve Bank had also upgraded its outlook for 2026, to 1.4% from 1.2%.
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