For six years, Old Mutual's shares sat in limbo in Zimbabwe. In June 2020, the government suspended trading on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, including Old Mutual's shares, worried they were being used to work out an unofficial exchange rate. Trading reopened for other companies two months later, but Old Mutual stayed frozen. Now the insurer has found a route back in.
A dollar exchange, not the old one
Rather than return to the exchange that shut it out, Old Mutual is shifting its secondary Zimbabwe listing to the newer Victoria Falls Stock Exchange. The big difference is currency: the Victoria Falls exchange trades and settles entirely in US dollars, which the company says carries lower currency risk than the old bourse. The board reckons the younger exchange has "come into its own", with enough scale and liquidity to be a real alternative. It has grown fast, from a single listed company in 2020 to nineteen today. Trading has thickened too, with average annual turnover per listed company jumping from about $0.3m in 2021 to $7m in 2025, and the exchange expects its total yearly turnover to catch up with the old bourse within two years. Old Mutual's shares will follow the exchange's usual mechanics, settling two days after a trade and moving within a 20% daily limit from the second day.
A century in, and not done yet
Old Mutual is no stranger to the country. It has had a presence in Zimbabwe for about a century, going back to sales operations set up in 1927. "The VFEX has come into its own," group CEO Jurie Strydom said, calling the move in the best long-term interests of stakeholders. Zimbabwe's own stock exchange welcomed the switch, its chief executive saying it showed confidence in the country's markets. Worth around R60bn on the JSE, the group is framing the move as a long-term commitment rather than a retreat.
The migration still needs the Victoria Falls exchange to approve the listing and sign off the necessary rulings, so it isn't a done deal yet. But if it clears, Old Mutual's Zimbabwe story picks up where it stalled in 2020, this time counted in dollars.
