By 
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced that only market-ready ideas would be admitted to the second cohort of its regulatory sandbox, set to begin after next month.
This initiative allows live testing of new innovations under controlled conditions.
Philip Chitalu, SEC Chief Executive Officer, explained that this new restriction aims to minimise the time innovators spend in the sandbox.
“We are targeting products that are ready to go into the market for the next cohort, expected to start after August this year,” Chitalu stated.
Read more: SEC completes live testing for four Sandbox innovators
A sandbox allows firms to try capital market innovations, such as Financial Technologies (FinTechs), in a controlled live environment under specified conditions and limitations.
Last week, the SEC suspended four innovations from the sandbox after completing their live testing phase. These included Kukula Capital Plc, Lupiya Circle Plc, Premier Credit Zambia Ltd, and Lusaka Securities Exchange Plc.
The suspension was implemented to facilitate a comprehensive review of their performance and ensure a smooth exit from the sandbox.
“We have learned from the first cohort and will be stricter with the next. We seek products ready for market launch but needing to fit into a regulatory space,” Chitalu noted.
“To reduce the time spent in the sandbox, we want ideas that are ready to launch, except for perhaps the licensing regime and similar requirements.”
Chitalu emphasized that while business ideas could still receive support, only developed ideas ready for market testing would be allowed in the sandbox.
“If you just have a business idea, you can still be helped to develop it further. However, for the sandbox, you need to have developed your idea and be at the stage where you are ready to launch and test before the final launch,” he added.
The SEC’s move aims to streamline the innovation process, ensuring that only fully developed products that are near market launch stage are considered for the next cohort, thereby making the sandbox more efficient and effective.
WARNING! All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express permission from ZAMBIA MONITOR.
Comments