JSE in association with AfDB hosts AELP Engagement Forum to bolster investment in Africa

The African Exchange Linkage Project Engagement Forum has recently being hosted by the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in association with seven African exchanges, the African Development Bank and the African Securities Exchanges Association. The forum is 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.

"The African Development Bank has a long history and partnership with the African Securities Exchanges Association. This partnership compliments the Bank's interventions toward the development of deep and resilient capital markets in Africa," the Manager of Capital Markets and Development at the African Development Bank, Emmanuel Diarra opined. "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," Emmanuel Diarra said.

Since The African Exchange Linkage Project's (AELP) commenced in 2016 with only four exchanges, it has expanded to seven participating exchanges. They are the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), the Casablanca Stock Exchange, the Egyptian Exchange, Nairobi Securities Exchange, the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Stock Exchange of Mauritius and Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières which serves Francophone West Africa. The long-term goal is for all 27 African stock exchanges to join the Project and increase Africa's competitive advantage compared to other emerging markets.

"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," the Head of Public Policy at the JSE, Anne Clayton cited.