Sandton

Africa's richest square mile — and the JSE.

Sandton, north of central Johannesburg, has been South Africa's de facto financial centre since most major firms left the old downtown CBD in the 1990s. It hosts the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), the headquarters of Standard Bank, Absa, FirstRand, Nedbank, and most South African asset managers. Sandton is sometimes called "Africa's richest square mile" — a phrase the Sandton Central business district uses on its own signage.

Origin

The JSE moved from its historic Diagonal Street home to Sandton in 2000. Banks followed through the 1990s and 2000s, accelerating after the post-apartheid period.

Who works here

Johannesburg Stock Exchange
Standard Bank Group
FirstRand (Rand Merchant Bank, FNB)
Absa Group, Nedbank
Allan Gray, Coronation, Investec (also Cape Town)

Landmarks

Sandton City
Nelson Mandela Square
JSE Limited (One Exchange Square)
Standard Bank Centre

Primary exchange

Johannesburg Stock Exchange· JSE

Three indices a local would build

Open the prompt box pre-filled with one of these and turn it into a transparent, rule-based index in under a minute.

An index of the JSE Top 40 ex-mining: South African large-caps without Anglo, Glencore, Sibanye, Impala, Northam, Gold Fields, Harmony.open in builder →
South African banks, equal-weighted (Standard Bank, FirstRand, Absa, Nedbank, Capitec).open in builder →
Listed African telecoms: MTN, Vodacom, Airtel Africa, Safaricom (Kenya, NSE), Maroc Telecom.open in builder →