If you are living in Ghana, for instance, and are interested in purchasing shares or bonds on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, it has become easiest to do so. From 2020, cross-border trading of debt and equities in 15 West African countries and Morocco will start, according to the region’s securities authorities.
“Once we get the green light that the Ecowas processes have been completed, we need to aggressively bring the brokers up to speed so that they can take the ball and run with it,” he said. “There are so many benefits that a bigger, deeper market will present to investors, to issuers and to those who manage funds,” Daniel Ogbarmey Tetteh, chairman of the West African Securities Regulatory Authorities, said in an interview.
Here Is All You Need To Know
- At a meeting scheduled for December, 2019, regulators operating in the Economic Community of West African States and Morocco will ask the finance ministers of member nations to endorse the plan to make cross-border trading of securities happen.
- Thereafter, individual states are expected to ratify the pact by the middle of next year, he said in Abidjan, the commercial hub of Ivory Coast.
A Boost To An Economy of Over 350 Million People
The start of trade will mean a further step to integrate markets in a region of more than 350 million people.
While the mostly French-speaking members of the bloc already sell debt among themselves, buyers in the rest of the region typically need intermediaries for cross-border transactions.
The region have stock exchanges in countries such as Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Casablanca.
In a memorandum of understanding that was signed by regulators in August, members agreed to implement rules and procedures that will ease the trade of stocks and bonds and canvass central banks for their support.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world