The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), working with seven African exchanges, the African Development Bank and the African Securities Exchanges Association (ASEA), hosted the African Exchange Linkage Project (AELP) Engagement Forum, designed to bolster investments into the continent.
The joint initiative will facilitate cross-border trading and settlement of securities across participating exchanges in Africa. It also seeks to unlock Pan-African investment flows, promote the diversification needs of investors and address the lack of depth and liquidity in Africa’s financial markets.
In his opening remarks, Emmanuel Diarra, Manager of Capital Markets and Development at the African Development Bank, stated: “The African Development Bank has a long history and partnership with the African Securities Exchanges Association. This partnership complements the Bank’s interventions toward the development of deep and resilient capital markets in Africa.
“The Bank will continue to enhance its work with regulatory institutions, institutional investors, stock exchanges and other capital market stakeholders to strengthen regulatory frameworks, broaden market participation and product offerings, as well as improve the dissemination of capital markets data for transparent pricing mechanisms,” Diarra said.
Anne Clayton, Head of Public Policy at the JSE, said: “The AELP is a great addition to many collaborative initiatives around Africa. As the JSE, our focus is to enable sustainable and inclusive growth and development, not only in South Africa but on the continent as well. There is great interest within Africa for investment, and the AELP provides an opportunity for alignment of exchanges within the continent, therefore collaborations with key stakeholders will continue to be at the centre of securing a growth path for Africa.”
