South African startup stock exchange A2X Markets has secured funding from Absa bank, providing strong validation to a model that is looking to lower the cost of investing.
Founded in 2017, A2X uses technology to provide a trading venue at a much-reduced cost, and already lists many of South Africa’s top companies, including eight Top40 constituents, three Absa precious metal ETFs, and two Investec ETNs.
The A2X exchange has listings from many key sectors, including mining, media, banking, retail, FMCG, financial services, insurance, healthcare and telecommunications, and is a licensed stock exchange that provides a secondary listing venue for companies.
Absa has become the first major South African bank to invest in the startup stock exchange, with the bank’s head of equities Quintus Kilbourn saying it was always looking for innovative ways to save money for its clients and support the industry in which it operates.
“As a broker, we believe in an efficient and progressive marketplace and our investment in A2X shows our support for this,” he said.
A2X chief executive officer (CEO) Kevin Brady said Absa’s investment was a vote of confidence for what A2X is building.
“Effective competition in an industry drives market efficiency and this benefits all users, including individual investors and pensioners. By offering lower costs, we are able to create a better market to grow the overall industry,” he said.
