Banking (Victoria Falls International Financial Services Centre) (Securities, Capital Markets and Collective Investment Funds) Regulations, 2026

These regulations govern everyone conducting capital market activity at the Victoria Falls centre: investment firms, exchanges, clearing houses, depositories, crowdfunding platforms, digital asset platforms and collective investment funds. Conducting that business unregistered is prohibited outright.

The First Schedule sets base capital by category: US$100,000 for a non-custody investment adviser or fund manager, US$150,000 for a fund administrator, US$200,000 for a collective investment scheme manager, US$250,000 for a custodian or trustee and for an agency-only dealing firm, US$500,000 for a digital asset or token platform, US$1 million for a principal dealing firm doing market-making, US$2 million for a central securities depository, US$2.5 million for an authorised securities exchange, US$5 million for an authorised clearing house, and US$50,000 for a crowdfunding platform. A recognised foreign broker needs US$100,000 as a local liquidity buffer.

Licence fees sit alongside: US$2,000 application and US$5,000 a year for an adviser or fund manager, US$5,000 and US$15,000 for a custodian or agency dealer, US$10,000 and US$25,000 for a principal dealer, US$25,000 and US$50,000 for an exchange, US$30,000 and US$75,000 for a clearing house, US$20,000 and US$40,000 for a CSD, US$7,500 and US$15,000 for a digital asset platform, US$1,000 and US$2,500 for a crowdfunding platform.

Capital resources are ordinary paid-up equity, share premium, retained earnings and reserves, less interim losses, goodwill and intangibles, tangible fixed assets, deferred tax assets relying on future profitability, own shares, reciprocal cross-holdings, loans to affiliates and anything not readily realisable. Capital is recognised in Basel terms — Tier 1 core equity, additional Tier 1 perpetual subordinated instruments, Tier 2 subordinated debt of at least five years' maturity capped at 100% of Tier 1, and green or ESG-linked instruments meeting Basel permanence and loss-absorption criteria. Intermediaries need only their base capital; other firms add credit, market and operational risk capital, with dealing firms holding at least 8% of risk-weighted assets for credit risk under Basel.

Market institutions carry a further layer: risk management, conflicts of interest rules, a code of conduct, technology resources, confidentiality and cyber security, business rules with monitoring and financial penalties, admission and membership criteria, direct electronic access rules, measures to prevent and report market abuse and financial crime, safeguarding of users' assets, transaction recording, complaints handling and a trade repository. Exchanges get rules on fair and orderly trading, order execution, market making, trading controls, tick sizes, short selling and position management, liquidity incentives, derivative contract design and transparency. Clearing houses get admission, risk management, loss allocation, credit risk, collateral, margin, liquidity, settlement and default rules.

Crowdfunding platforms are regulated in unusual detail: risk disclosure, publication of default and failure rates, risk acknowledgement forms, due diligence on borrowers and issuers, a ban on advertising proposals outside the platform, equal treatment of lenders, staff barred from using their own platform, business cessation plans, a cooling-off period, target funding amounts and lending, investment and fundraising limits.

Collective investment schemes get a full regime — domestic, foreign and external funds, open and closed-ended, fund manager and trustee duties, registration, oversight arrangements, marketing and prospectus requirements, transfer schemes and winding up, and the Centre's power to issue stop orders.

Finally there is a market abuse chapter: definitions of inside information, unlawful disclosure, insider dealing, market manipulation, accepted market practice, market soundings and record keeping, plus disclosure obligations — publishing inside information, keeping insider lists, and notifying managers' transactions. Foreign online brokers can be recognised, direct electronic access clients passported, and an expedited registration route exists for foreign brokers.