The expansion of total activity in the financial markets for obvious reasons also attracted more foreign participation. A great number of foreign banking institutions, for example, established themselves in South Africa. At this stage, almost thirty foreign banks now operate in the South African market through branches or subsidiaries established here, and more than sixty foreign banks have established representative offices in South Africa.
Foreign investors have taken active participation in a number of the member stockbroking firms of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, and participate as authorised dealers for the Department of Finance in primary issues of, and secondary trading in, government bonds.