West African capital markets target cross-border securities transactions
The Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr Lamido Yuguda said the aim of the West African Capital Markets Integration Programme is to create an enabling environment for cross-border securities transactions and the integration of all capital markets jurisdictions in the ECOWAS region.
The SEC DG stated this during a meeting with the director-general of SEC Ghana in Accra.
He said that given the enormous potential of cross-border listings, capital markets in the region are expected to develop a tool of cooperation that enables them to effectively police their respective markets and ensure that the standards of regulation set out by IOSCO are sustained and improved upon when necessary.
What the SEC DG is saying
Yuguda emphasised that it would take cooperation from all the parties involved to bring the project to fruition. He said:
- “Without the readiness of all concerned, the lofty aims of the program may as well continually remain a dream. It goes to say, unequivocally, that this goal can only be achieved seamlessly when all member states of ECOWAS come on board and actively commit to achieving the noble objectives of the enhanced collaborative structure that the nature of these agreements enable.
- “On this note, the SEC Ghana and SEC Nigeria, desirous of achieving these ideals, have taken the lead by example and by driving this project in the sub-region while hopefully aiming to someday expand its coverage beyond the sub-regional frontiers onto other parts of the continent of Africa.”
Speaking further, Yuguda said that the enduring relationship between the two jurisdictions is amplified by the fact that Ghana and Nigeria have the largest markets in the West African sub-region. He added that it would be good for both countries to seize the advantage of size and peculiarities and explore viable areas of cooperation.
They should also continue to work with other stakeholders to integrate the different markets and provide greater opportunities for the economic prosperity of the two countries.
- “We need to come closer and take deliberate steps to achieve bilateral cooperation. We are very keen on this relationship. There is a strong relationship between us so we need to continue to nurture and grow it and create institutions that will help our people have better living standards. I hope we can achieve a lot by bringing our capital markets together. We need to make our institutions stronger as well as our economic activities.
- “We require this collaboration in a bid to make the process of accessing our markets as seamless as possible, easy for people to transfer assets, make investments and have confidence that the investments are protected in Ghana as they are in Nigeria and vice versa,” Yuguda stated.
What Ghana SEC is saying
In his remarks, the DG of SEC Ghana, Rev Daniel OgbarmeyTetteh commended the Nigerian SEC DG. He stated that Ghana and Nigeria can push forward in ways that will bring about the mutual benefits of leveraging the capital market, adding that the region needs to have their markets open to each other so that they can achieve more and then attain one big capital market.
Tetteh also expressed delight at the collaboration and pledged the commitment of SEC Ghana to the initiative.
