HARARE - The Securities Commission of Zimbabwe (SecZim) says brokerage firms have started submitting their compliance plans with its directive to register all shares held by nominees under the owner’s names.

“It’s a process, it’s not a one-day event .What we are doing is receiving their plans,” SecZim chief executive Tafadzwa Chinamo said.

“Most have done so but some are struggling with issues to do with locating the owners of the shares and this we had anticipated,” he said.

Chinamo however, said the regulator will not extend its compliance deadline as it seeks to bring sanity to the country’s markets.

“In our letter to the stock broking firms we were very clear that at the end of November no broker should have customers shares held,” he said.

A “nominee account” is a type of account in which a stockbroker holds shares belonging to clients, making buying and selling those shares easier. In such an arrangement shares are said to be held in street name.

The order by SecZim comes amid a raft of reforms that it has proposed for the country’s securities markets.

The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, once one of the continent’s best-performing market is currently dogged by depressed trade and allegations of insider trading.