Note: Fiscal year of AAM is October 1 - September 30. *** Subscriptions for 2006/07 Membership are now due!!!!
Join African Association of Madison, Inc. for $25 per year
Mail check to: AAM, PO Box 1016, Madison, WI 53701 Phone: 608-258-0261 -- Email: [log in to unmask] Web: www.AfricanAssociation.org
*****************************************************************
Work to integrate Ghana, Nigeria stock exchanges begins next year: official
Mon Dec 18, 1:11 PM ET
Work on the integration of Ghana and Nigeria stock exchanges by the West African Monetary Institute (WAMI) will begin next year, an official of the institute said.
Speaking at a meeting on the integration of the West African Stock Markets in Accra Mark-Odiake Chris Okolie, WAMI director of operations said integrating the stock exchanges of the two countries would be the first step to the full integration of capital markets of member states of the West Africa Monetary Zone.
The zone aims to adopt a single currency in the region by 2009.
"A grant had been secured in that direction to facilitate the process through improvement in market infrastructure and the security settlement system to promote online real time payment," he said.
"Besides, WAMI would make efforts to develop stock exchanges in Gambia, Sierra Leone and Liberia," Okolie told the meeting hosted by the Ghana Stock Exchange and attended by delegates from the Nigerian Stock Exchange and the Securities and Exchange Commission, the brokers and other stakeholders.
He said the aim of a single, safe and integrated financial system in the region is to allow for an expanded pool of resources from which investors in the area can access capital for their operations.
Frank Adu, the acting chairman of the Ghana Stock Exchange Council, said the plan to integrate the stock markets is good because the respective markets on their own are too small to compete effectively in the global market.
According to Sam Mensah, government advisor on financial markets, integration was necessary for the capital market in the region to fully participate in the global market.
"A single market would allow free flow of capital and expand investors horizon to explore opportunities across frontiers, " he stated.
Elsie Addo, a senior official of an Accra financial consultancy company, said integration required that the respective barriers, such as tax, legal and regulatory regimes, which do not permit the free flow of capital be examined and dealt with.
Kofi Yamoah, managing director of the Ghana Stock Exchange, said the Ghana bourse will forge greater collaboration with its Nigerian counterpart to promote integration and create a platform for investors in both countries to have access to capital.
The managing director of the Nigerian Central Security Depository, Onyemuchi Asinobi, said it was time to take concrete action on integration of the capital markets.