. according to jse statistics, the share of companies with dual listings increased from 14 per cent of all companies listed on the jse in january 2006 to about 24 per cent in july 2016. as such, harmonising settlement cycles across regions will help with better cash flow and treasury management, and thus facilitate better and more efficient allocation of capital. reducing systemic risk and contributing to broader financial system stability in addition to its primary mandate of price stability, the sarb is also responsible for protecting and enhancing financial stability. we consider financial stability to exist when we have a financial system that is resilient to systemic shocks, facilitates efficient financial johannesburg stock exchange t + 3 project overview and frequently asked questions, august 2016. bis central bankers ’ speeches intermediation and mitigates the macroeconomic costs of disruption in such a way that confidence in the system is maintained. the focus on financial stability is in line with the global trends where the regulatory community, in reaction to the global financial crisis, has been dedicating more effort and resources to reducing risk, achieving greater transparency and accountability, and improving efficiency in order to establish a safer market environment. a shorter - settlement cycle will foster a reduction of settlement risk and counterparty exposure by reducing the time period between trade execution and settlement. the faster delivery of cash and stock to the seller and buyer, respectively, allows for a reduction in the risk of financial loss, especially during times of financial stress. the level of interconnectedness or network structure of the various agents of our financial systems, within and across borders, speaks directly to the potential risks that may arise from poor or outdated risk management practices. however, if risk is reduced and continuous risk reduction strategies are being pursued, such as will be the case with the shorter settlement period in the equity market, then systemic financial crises are less likely to occur. increased market credibility and operational efficiency improving the attractiveness of south africa to international investors other benefits that this initiative promises to unlock relate to the improvement of the credibility and operational efficiency of the local market. these benefits should help boost south africa ’ s status in the global competitiveness rankings of the world economic forum ( wef ). the competitiveness rankings are informed by a number of pillars which are organised into three main stages of development, factor - driven, efficiency - driven and innovation - driven. each stage focusses on different market structure issues, i. e. basic requirements, efficiency enhancers and innovation and sophistication factors. financial market development,

up with a generally acceptable definition. i will use the definition of the bank of canada, “ … when households, businesses and financial - service firms can reliably hold and transfer financial assets, without a meaningful risk of disturbances that would undermine financial exchange fundamentally and lead to macroeconomic costs ”. the sarb ’ s mandate of price stability has been expanded with an explicit responsibility to oversee and maintain the stability of the south african financial system. while the price stability mandate of the bank is narrowly defined and measureable, its mandate for financial stability is much broader and is a shared responsibility with other stakeholders in the financial and public sectors. during the east asian financial crisis in the late 1990s, however, countries with low inflation rates experienced severe instability in their financial systems as banks failed, exchange rates depreciated and financial markets experienced severe volatility. as a result many central banks focused increasingly on financial stability and it became an implicit secondary objective. in south africa, this objective was mainly pursued through the regulation and supervision of banks, which has been the responsibility of the bank supervision department within the bank. it soon became clear, however, that sound and profitable individual banks did not guarantee a sound banking and financial system. banks often have inter - linkages and might have significant common exposures to risks that will not be visible from the supervision of individual banks. hence the need for macro - prudential surveillance, or the monitoring of the “ prudence ” of the “ broader ” financial system was identified and which culminated in the sarb creating such capacity for this purpose as far back as 2001. the sarb further was given the objective of contributing to the stability of the financial system in south africa, following the global financial crisis. bis central bankers ’ speeches following the publication of a policy document by national treasury in february 2011 called “ a safer financial sector to serve south africa better ” the sarb ’ s responsibility for financial stability became more explicit. this policy document eventually culminated in the financial sector regulation bill, which states that “ … the south african reserve bank has primary responsibility for promoting financial stability … ”. the bill sets out further details to give effect to the bank ’ s financial stability mandate and is expected to be promulgated during 2014. it is important to note that financial stability is a shared responsibility with other stakeholders such as the prudential and market conduct regulators and the national treasury. careful consideration needs to be given to co - ordinating monetary policy and financial stability objectives, which at