The Managing Director of the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), Mr. Ekow Afedzie, has stated that the final phase of the integration of three key stock exchanges across the West Africa sub-region to facilitate cross-border listing and trading will take off this year.
Speaking at a news conference organised by the GSE, Mr. Afedzie said the process is currently at a phase where West African Regulators Association have engaged to approve some final guidelines and rules. “Now what we are seeking is ECOWAS recognition for what is being done so that it can bind all of us together. That is the stage we are now. Then we can move to the implementation stage this year,” he said.
The West African Capital Markets Integration Council (WACMIC) is set to integrate the capital markets with member exchanges including the Nigeria Stock Exchange, the Ghana Stock Exchange, and the Bourse Regionale de Valeurs Mobilieres (BRVM), which serves eight francophone West African countries, and Cape Verde.
The first phase of the three-prong integration agenda, which is the sponsored access for stockbroking, had been completed. “The second phase, which is the qualifying broker qualification is what is key to us. At that level, we harmonize all our rules both for listing, Initial Public Offerings, and claims settlement in order to be able to allow brokers, who qualify by meeting certain requirements to be able to trade across the region,” Mr. Afedzie said.
The third phase, which is the implementation stage, involves linking members’ exchanges to a virtual West African securities market. Qualified West African brokers will then be able to access the listed securities and market information in the region to allow them to execute transactions, while issuers will be able to raise capital across the region too.
“So, if you are a broker in Nigeria and you meet the requirements and you are given the recognition you can trade across,” Mr. Afedzie added.
Source: citifmonline
