Following an extensive brand audit, the JSE on Monday revealed its new brand aimed at demonstrating the bourse’s identity as a modern African marketplace connecting investors to global growth opportunities.

The JSE’s logo and colour palette would move to a “bold black, white and green combination” with the typography taking on a “clean, digital feel”, the JSE said in a statement.

“At the JSE, we have been doing some serious thinking about our positioning in South Africa and the world. Our visual identity needed to represent our position as a leading African exchange, which is driven for stakeholder growth and [to] showcase the strong technology component of the business. It also needed to be more accessible to investors,” JSE issuer and investor relations director Zeona Jacobs commented.

The JSE stated that the choice of black in the new branding gave the exchange’s brand a bold identity while the green symbolised growth and prosperity.

The stacked lines or links in both the logo and other elements of the visual identity illustrated the JSE’s role as a secure platform for growth.

“When you strip everything away, the role of an exchange is to act as a link. A link between listed companies, investors, global markets and between human solutions and digital technology,” Jacobs added.

In addition to the change to the JSE’s visual identity, brand names such as the Bond Exchange of South Africa (BESA) and the South African Futures Exchange (SAFEX) would also fall away.

“The JSE acquired SAFEX in 2001 and BESA in 2009 and we believe that these services have now been fully integrated into the exchange’s business. This also allows us to promote one cohesive brand rather than a cluster of related brands,” Jacobs said.

In future, the JSE’s derivatives clearing house Safcom would now be known as JSE Clear; however, the exchange’s hedge fund platform management business Nautilus, as a differentiated business within the JSE’s group of companies, would not change its name.

Although the brand was officially launched on Monday, the elements would be implemented in a phased approach up until December this year.