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A second cohort of the Regulatory Sandbox which is set to start once the current four innovators exit has been launched by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
A Regulatory Sandbox, launched in 2021, is a framework that allows Financial Technology (FinTech) innovators to conduct live experiments in a controlled environment under a regulator’s supervision.
Phillip Chitalu, SEC Chief Executive Officer, in an interview with Zambia Monitor in Lusaka said the Sandbox currently had four innovators who were in their final innovations.
Chitalu named the four innovators as Permit Credits, Lupiya, Kukula Capital as well as the Lusaka and Securities Exchange (LuSE).
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“We have had about four innovators in the Sandbox. These are permit credits, Lupiya then we have had Kukula Capital and LuSE. So those have bene in the sandbox for the last 12 months.
“We have four in the Sandbox that are about to exit. Three of them are into Small and Medium Enterprise funding or financing. Kukula Capital has been in innovative products,” he said.
Chitalu also announced the launch of the second cohort for the Sandbox, saying the commission had already received a number of applications.
According to Chitalu, the applications were being reviewed and that as soon as the commission was done, it would then proceed into the second cohort.
He explained that about four successful applicants would be admitted to the Sandbox once the current ones exited.
“We have opened up the sandbox again for the second cohort which means that given resources, we will admit other entities into the sandbox and we have a number of applications that have been received.
“So what we do is that we get applications and then we review the ideas to see whether they meet the requirements we have a number of who have applied to go into the second cohort for innovative products,” Chitalu said.
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