The African Securities Exchanges Association (ASEA) and the African Development Bank Group have signed an agreement for a $600,000 grant to expand the network of linked African stock exchanges from 7 to 15 under the second phase of the African Exchanges Linkage Project (AELP).
The grant is provided by the Korea African Economic Cooperation Fund (KOAFEC) Trust Fund, managed by the African Development Bank.
The AELP aims to link African capital markets, promoting cross-border securities trading, increasing liquidity, and diversifying investment opportunities.
The second phase of the project will provide investors with access to over 2,000 securities listed on up to 15 capital markets through a cross-border securities trading platform. This platform will be tailored to the needs of regulators, central depositories, policymakers, and stockbrokers.
The participating stock exchanges include the Botswana Stock Exchange, where the grant signing took place, as well as the Ghana Stock Exchange and six other stock exchanges. The grant will also support capacity building of institutional investors and capital market operators.
Thapelo Tsheole, President of ASEA and CEO of the Botswana Stock Exchange, expressed gratitude to the African Development Bank for their support and dedication to the development of African Capital Markets.
He emphasized that the grant funding will help expand technical connectivity and linkage among African stock exchanges, creating a broader pan-African network that benefits investors, businesses, and governments across the continent.
Solomon Quaynor, the African Development Bank Group’s Vice President for Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialization, highlighted the bank’s pleasure in extending its partnership with ASEA for Phase 2 of the African Exchanges Linkage Project.
He noted that the project facilitates regional integration through the linkage of African stock exchanges, which collectively have a market capitalization of up to $1.3 trillion.
This collaboration aligns with the bank’s 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 align with the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the African Continental Free Trade Agreement’s goal of establishing a liberalized market to facilitate the movement of capital and investments and deepen economic integration in Africa. The project also contributes to the African Development Bank Group’s strategic priority of integrating Africa.
The African Development Bank previously supported the first phase of the AELP, which was also funded through a KOAFEC grant.
Phase one involved setting up an infrastructure interconnectivity platform that included seven stock exchanges and 31 stockbrokers. Additionally, it provided training for over 1,000 capital market operators.
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