As stakeholders continue in their effort to deepen the market, the African Development Bank in collaboration West Africa Capital Market Integration Council (WACMIC) has said that its database and website currently in the works would boost investor’ confidence by providing them with robust and reliable unified statistical data across West Africa markets.
Speaking at a capacity building and sensitisation programme in Lagos on Tuesday, the DG of West African Monetary Institute (WAMI), Olorunsola Olowofeso, explained that the unified database and website would provide information and statistical data of capital markets in Nigeria, Ghana, Cape-Verde, Côte d’Ivoire among other ECOWAS countries.
According to him , this would facilitate the quest for integration and harmonisation of the West African capital markets, provide deeper understanding of how the market operates while also providing investors with larger market opportunities to widen their investment horizon.
“Investors always want to put their money in a market where they understand how it runs. The database would have various modules where you can query the data concerning capital market in ECOWAS countries and within the West African region.”
Further emphasising the importance of data to the market, Olowofeso added that, “This would help in policy decision, investors can study the data before taking investment decisions. The data would also be open for research purposes to help in proffering sustainable solutions and ideas for improving capital markets in West Africa.” Olowofeso also reassured that the issue of language barrier would not be a challenge as the website is being designed to be used in different languages found within the region. Chief Executive Officer, NGX, Temi Popoola, who was represented by the Divisional Head, Capital Markets, Jude Chiemeka, said the WACMI Phase 2 Project is another milestone for the West African Capital Market Integration Council (WACMIC), the West Africa Securities Regulatory Association (WASRA), and indeed, the West African Monetary Institute (WAMI) on their efforts to integrate the West African Capital Markets through innovative technology.
While appreciating the African Development Bank (AfDB) for sponsoring the regional integration program in order to establish a harmonised regulatory environment for the issuance and trading of financial securities across the region, Popoola said this would help address the infrastructure deficit that severely impedes Africa’s competitiveness in the global market.
According to him, “The phase II project will facilitate and stimulate cross-border securities trading, enable free flow of trading information among participants and support the creation of products and securities on the linked exchanges and drive innovation in investment services.
Earlier in a keynote address, the Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Lamido Yuguda, stated that the initiative aims to establish a common and integrated platform for listing, trading, and settling securities transactions within West Africa. Represented by the Executive Commissioner Operations at the SEC, Dayo Obisan, Yuguda stated that capital markets play the crucial role of channelling capital from the place of surplus to that of deficit, helping make production and in turn, development possible. He explained that for development to happen, a strong capital market is a requisite necessity.
“There is need to expand the markets in the sub-region, and one of the ways to do it is to encourage cross-border capital market activity. This increases the opportunity set for people in our sub-region, helps diversification of investments, and encourages transfer of skills and best practices” he stated.
SOURCE: PUNCH
