Trans-border trading: AfDB, African Securities Exchange expand links to 15 capital markets
The number of African exchanges linked to the African Securities Exchanges Association (ASEA) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group trading network has expanded from seven to 15.
The Bank said at the weekend that the expansion was achieved under the second phase of the African Exchanges Linkage Project (AELP).
On June 28, both parties signed an agreement for a $600,000 grant from the Korea African Economic Cooperation Fund (KOAFEC) Trust Fund managed by the AfDB for the project.
The AELP is a flagship project of ASEA and the Bank Group to link African capital markets, to promote cross-border securities trading, increasing liquidity and diversifying investment opportunities for investors in Africa.
AELP’s second phase, the Bank said, would provide investors access to more than 2,000 securities listed on the 15 capital markets through a cross-border securities trading platform tailored to the needs of regulators, central depositories, policy-makers, and stockbrokers.
“Participating stock exchanges include the Botswana Stock Exchange, where the grant signing took place; the Ghana Stock Exchange and six other stock exchanges.
”The grant will also support capacity building of institutional investors and capital market operators,” it said.
The President of ASEA, who is also the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Botswana Stock Exchange, who signed the agreement on behalf of the association expressed gratitude to AfDB for its invaluable support and dedication to the development of African Capital Markets.
”With the generous grant funding, we are poised to expand technical connectivity and linkage among African stock exchanges, creating a broader pan-African network.
“Together, we are working toward a fully integrated Africa for the benefit of investors, businesses and governments across the continent,” he said.
The Bank Group’s Vice President for Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialisation, Solomon Quaynor, signed on behalf of AfDB.
Quaynor said: “the Bank is pleased to extend its partnership with ASEA through the follow-on support for Phase 2 of the AELP.
”The AELP is facilitating regional integration through African stock exchanges linkage amounting to up to 1.3 trillion dollars in combined market capitalisation.
”The collaboration between the Bank and ASEA through the AELP aligns with our objective of leveraging institutional investor groups and capital markets financing into infrastructure and the real sector in regional member countries.”
The objectives of the AELP, he said, aligned with the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA)’s goal to establish a liberalized market to ease the movement of capital and investments and deepen the continent’s economic integration.
He said the project also advances the Bank Group’s High 5 strategic priority to “Light up and Power Africa; Feed Africa; Industrialize Africa; Integrate Africa; and Improve the Quality of Life for the People of Africa.
The first phase of the AELP, which supported the set-up of an infrastructure interconnectivity platform involving seven stock exchanges and 31 stockbrokers, was promoted by AfDB, with funding from a KOAFEC grant.
The first phase also offered training for more than 1,000 capital market operators. (NAN)
